Lionblaze Stole the Stars
by malicent
Summary: The sequel to Lionblaze has a Shadow. Lionblaze and Jayfeather go through life like any other messed up teenagers do, with even more complications then before.
1. Lionblazes Birthday

Lionblaze Stole the Stars

**Hello readers! Just letting you all know this is the SEQUAL to my other story, Lionblaze has a Shadow. So yeah, read that one first! IF you want this one to make any sense, that is. **

Part 1: Lionblazes Birthday

"Drinks on me!" Lionblaze yelled, and downed the shot of rum he had been holding. Everyone cheered, making Lionblaze grin like crazy. He picked up another shot and downed it too, this time his face screwed up from the taste.

"For god's sake don't throw up," Jayfeather snapped from behind him.

"Hey, Jayfeather!" Lionblaze said stupidly. "Come and take some shots with me!"

"I think you're done," Jayfeather replied. Lionblaze groaned.

"Look," Jayfeather started. "I know it's your birthday and all, but seriously. You're acting like an idiot."

"Well excccuuuuuse me," Lionblaze said, then skipped away, humming a song out of tune.

"He's gonna regret this tomorrow morning," Hollyleaf sighed. Jayfeather nodded in agreement, rolling his eyes as he sipped his drink.

* * *

><p>"I feel so disgusting!" Lionblaze groaned. He sat up and looked around. "Jayfeather, come here," he whined. "Make me some soup!"<p>

No reply.

Lionblaze rolled his eyes and flopped back down into his bed. Well, Cloudtails bed. _Wait what? _Lionblaze shot up and looked down. _Why the hell am I in Cloudtails bed? _He thought, confused. _And why the freaking hell am I wearing Hollyleafs knee high socks? AND WHY IS THERE SPAGETTI ALL OVER MY SHIRT? _Lionblaze scratched his head, trying to remember what happened last night. _Okay, first I was at the bar. Then I met up with Firestar… _Lionblaze realized he couldn't remember anything that happened after he met up with Firestar. _Goddamn… _Lionblaze felt his insides heaving. _I haven't felt this nasty in a loooong time. _

Lionblaze, Hollyleaf and Firestar had flown to New York to visit Jayfeather and Cloudtail for the weekend. Yesterday was Lionblazes nineteenth birthday, so they all went to the bar. Lionblaze couldn't believe how drunk he'd gotten. Lionblaze sighed for the sixth time and stripped off Hollyleafs purple socks. _I feel like I'm gonna puke, _Lionblaze thought. _Stupid hangovers!_

* * *

><p>"Jayfeather!" Lionblaze whined as he walked into the living room. He yawned and scratched the back of his neck. "Can you make me some OH MY GOD!" Lionblaze froze on the spot, mouth hanging open like an idiot.<p>

"What the hell Lionblaze!" Jayfeather hid his face with his hands. "Get out!"

Lionblaze charged out of the room, trying to process what he just saw. _Jeez oh jeez what just happened, _Lionblaze thought, his face bright red. A few minutes later, Jayfeather walked into his room, buttoning up his shirt.

"Don't look at me," Lionblaze squeezed his eyes shut so he wouldn't have to look at his brother.

"Oh give it a rest," Jayfeather snapped. Lionblaze didn't open his eyes still.

"You could have knocked!" Jayfeather cried, face turning red again.

"I didn't think I had to knock to go into the living room," Lionblaze whimpered. Jayfeather snorted.

"Well it's my house so I'll do what I want in it. Get the picture?"

"Getting the picture isn't the problem, its getting rid of it," Lionblaze said.

"Where's Hollyleaf?" Jayfeather asked, trying to change the subject.

"I don't know. Why?"

"Doesn't your plane leave soon?" Jayfeather said. "You should start packing."

"I already did. I'll call Hollyleaf right now," Lionblaze pulled out his phone and dialed his sisters number.

"Hello?" a male voice answered.

"Uh, hi," Lionblaze said awkwardly. "Is Hollyleaf there?"

"One sec," the voice grunted. A few minutes later, Hollyleaf answered.

"Hello?"

"Hey, Hollyleaf where are you?" Lionblaze asked. "We have to start getting ready to leave."

"I'll be home soon," she promised. "As soon as Tigerheart makes me some soup. You want me to bring you some?"

"Oh god yes," Lionblaze said, relieved that he was finally going to get some soup. Then it hit him that he had no idea who Tigerheart was.

"Who is Tigerheart?" Lionblaze growled into the phone. "And why are you with him?"

"God, Lionblaze, stop acting all defensive. I've known him since high school, and we met up at the bar last night."

"Did you guys do anything inappropriate?" Lionblaze howled.

"Oh shut up. See you soon."

Lionblaze snapped his phone shut as the line went dead.

"So?" Jayfeather said. "Where is she?"

"With Tigerheart apparently," Lionblaze huffed. "She said she'll be here soon."

"Why do you sound so resentful?"

"Because I don't know who the hell Tigerheart is and I don't like the thought of him hanging around my sister!" Lionblaze cried. Jayfeather grinned. "You thought of them doing the nasty didn't you-"

"Shut the hell up!" Lionblaze cried.

* * *

><p>"Hurry, we're going to miss the plane!" Hollyleaf cried. Lionblaze tried to run faster, the soup he was holding sloshed in its container. <em>I knew I should have eaten this before we left, <em>Lionblaze thought crossly.

They finally arrived at the airport ten minutes early.

"If we missed the plane it's your fault," Lionblaze said.

"It's your goddamn fault we're late," Hollyleaf snapped. "No one asked for you to throw up all over Jayfeathers couch."

"Well, excuuuse me," Lionblaze growled. "I'm hung-over.

"Yeah and it's no one's fault but yours," Hollyleaf sighed. "Oh my god, look at how full this airport is. We're gonna have to sit on the floor."

Lionblaze immediately sat down on the cold concrete with no objection, and started tearing into his soup. His slurping attracted disgusted glares from other people waiting for the plane.

"What?" Hollyleaf snapped at them, making them look away awkwardly. Hollyleaf pulled out her soup container and started eating it slowly.

"Do you think they'd get mad if I had a smoke?" Lionblaze asked between bites.

Hollyleaf sarcastically pointed at the no smoking sign. "No, not at all."

"Damn," Lionblaze proceeded to shovel his soup into his mouth like there was no tomorrow.

"_Will passengers of Hawkair in the 10.3 region please enter the terminal."_

"That's us," Hollyleaf said, snapping the lid back on her container. "Let's go."

"Do you think they'd let me eat this on the plane?" Lionblaze asked. Hollyleaf rolled her eyes. "I highly doubt that, Lionblaze."

Lionblaze sighed dramatically and shoved his container in his suitcase.


	2. The Pizza Theory

Lionblaze Stole the Stars

Chapter 2: The Pizza Theory

"Excuse me," Lionblaze asked the flight attendant. "But can I get some more of these?"he held up his empty bag of peanuts. The flight attendant looked at the three bags in the empty seat beside him disgustedly. "You've had four bags," she pointed out.

"I know," Lionblaze said as if she were extremely stupid.

"So you can't have anymore."

"That's retarded!" Lionblaze howled as the flight attendant walked away.

"What are you shouting about?" Hollyleaf snapped, shoving the peanut bags onto the floor so she could sit down.

"I'm not allowed any more peanuts."

"That's a relief. Your chewing was making me feel nauseas."

"I'm insulted."

Hollyleaf ripped open her own bag of peanuts and shoved half of them in her mouth at once. Then she proceeded to chew with her mouth open very noisily.

"You like that?" she said, talking and chewing at the same time. Lionblaze giggled, ignoring the disgusted stares people were shooting at them. Hollyleaf stopped her chewing when she realized she wasn't going to get a negitive response from her brother.

"I wonder if they'd let me crack a window," Lionblaze wondered outloud. "It's getting a little stuffy in here."

"We're in a freaking plane!" Hollyleaf cried. "Of course they're not going to let you _crack a window."_

"I guess. The pressure would probably suck out my eyeballs."

"I'm not even going to ask," Hollyleaf sighed, not wanting to know what Lionblaze was talking about.

"I wish Jayfeather was here," Lionblaze said sadly, changing the subject. "He'd make our trip so much funner."

"I know," Hollyleaf agreed. "But let's face it Lionblaze, he's starting to make a life for himself. Maybe it's time we did the same."

"But I like my life!" Lionblaze whined. "It was so much fun with you a Jayfeather, but now he's gone and we're left here scratching our heads wondering what the heck happened to our lives."

"Well, what do you want to do with your life?" Hollyleaf asked.

"I dunno," Lionblaze muttered.

"Well, what do you like?"

Lionblaze, who was distracted by the barf bag, didn't hear her.

"Gross! There's a piece of gum in here!" Lionblaze cried.

"Oh for gods sake," Hollyleaf slapped the bag out of his hands. "I _said, _what do you like?"

"I like pizza," Lionblaze replied.

"Other than that."

"I like to watch golf."

"You are so difficult!" Hollyleaf groaned. "Be serious for one goddamn minute."

Lionblaze sat in silence, and Hollyleaf was just starting to wonder if he had forgotten what he was talking about when he exploded with excitement.

"I'M GONNA OPEN UP A PIZZA PARLOR!" Lionblaze shouted.

"Shh!" Hollyleaf hissed as other people on the plane shot dirty looks at them.

"I'm gonna open up a pizza parlor," Lionblaze repeated more quietly.

"I heard you, you goof," Hollyleaf hissed. "What possesed you to do that?"

"Well I like pizza, and I enjoy eating pizza at parlors, so it's like a perfect job for me!" Lionblaze said happily. "Don't you think it's a good idea?"

"I don't think your understanding the whole concept here," Hollyleaf said. "There's so much more to a pizza parlor then just pizza."

"I know. I'll need napkins and a years supply of root beer," Lionblaze said matter of factly. Hollyleaf rolled her eyes. "And you'll need a liquor license and a good customer base. Not to mention you'll need a resturant."

"Well, obviously," Lionblaze snorted. "What did you think I was gonna do, sell it on the street?"

"Let's just talk about this when we get home," Hollyleaf sighed, picking up a magazine. "You are frustrating me so much right now."

* * *

><p>"We're home!" Lionblaze shouted, kicking open the door to Hawkfrosts room. "Did you miss me?"<p>

"No," Hawfrost said flatly.

"I missed you too!" Lionblaze howled, then charged upstairs.

"Hey Mothwing!" Lionblaze cried, opening the door more gently then he had done with Hawfrost.

"Hi, Lionblaze!" Mothwing smiled. "I missed you!"

"Aw I missed you too!" Lionblaze grinned. Then he leaned over and gave her a hug.  
>"Hey!" Hawkfrost snapped. "You didn't give me a freaking hug so why are you hugging her?"<p>

"Did you want one?" Lionblaze opened his arms, which made Hawkfrost cringe with disgust. "No I don't want one," he huffed.

"Then what the hell are you complaining about?" Lionblaze snapped. "Jeez."

"How was your trip to see Jayfeather?" Mothwing asked.

"It was nice. I got totally wasted!" Lionblaze and Mothwing high fived, making Hawkfrost hiss and stalk out of the room.

"Did you see Cloudtail too?" Mothwing asked.

"Yeah," Lionblaze said. "He was doing well. He and Jayfeather seem happy, which is good."

"Yeah," Mothwing smiled warmly.

"Well, I'm gonna go unpack," Lionblaze said, walking toward the door. "See you later."

"Bye!"

* * *

><p>Lionblaze nearly gagged as he breathed in a thick haze of smoke that was coming from the kitchen. Hawkfrost waved his hand in front of his face, coughing.<p>

"Hollyleafs baking muffins," Lionblaze explained.

"More like Hollyleafs _burning _muffins," Hawkfrost snapped.

"Try to at least choke one down," Lionblaze whispered so Hollyleaf wouldn't hear. "So we don't hurt her feelings."

"But it's probably gonna taste like burnt charcol!" Hawkfrost complained. "I'll need a stomach pump if I try to eat one of those rocks."

"Just try!" Lionblaze hissed as Hollyleaf walked in. She was holding a tray of scorched black muffins.

"I think they're a little overdone," Hollyleaf said sadly.

"Ha!" Hawkfrost hid his laugh with a cough. Hollyleaf eyed him suspisiously.

"I bet they're great!" Lionblaze exclaimed, picking one off the tray. He crunched down on it, forcing himself to chew the burnt muffin.

"It's good," Lionblaze said between bites, wincing as he felt his back tooth chip.

"Really?" Hollyleaf brightened at once, and picked up a muffin herself. She took a bite, then scowled.

"These are disgusting!" she gagged. Lionblaze swallowed, and put the rest of his muffin back on the tray.

"I'll finish it later," he lied.

"No you're not," Hollyleaf growled. "Because they're all going into the garbage." Then she promptly walked away and dumped them all into the trash.

Lionblaze picked a piece of muffin out of his teeth. "It felt like I was chewing gravol," he said disgustedly to Hawkfrost.

Hawkfrost actually smiled at that.


	3. Monopoly Night

Lionblaze Stole the Stars

Chapter 3: Monopoly Night

"Can I see some ID please?" The cashier droned. Hollyleaf sighed and pulled out her drivers license. The cashier looked at it for a long minute.

"For gods sake, I'm twenty," Hollyleaf snapped. "It says so right on the first line!"

"I see," the cashier said, then passed the license back to her. She glanced disapprovingly at the amount of alcohol Hollyleaf was going to buy. Hollyleaf, however smiled at the two forties of rum and the 2/6 of vodka.

"Having a party?" the cashier asked suspiciously.

"Something like that. Its monopoly night," Hollyleaf explained. The cashier rolled her eyes and put the bottles in a bag.

"Have a good day," she said sarcastically. Hollyleaf smiled at her and then left the liquor store.

_That's one chore done, _she thought. _Time to launch phase two. _Hollyleaf envied Lionblaze, who's only job was to get the food ready. Hollyleaf had to get the alcohol and the hard part of the job: buying cocaine from Briarlight, Lionblazes girlfriend. Hollyleaf was dreading the job, mainly because she didn't do drugs in the first place. It was for Firestar and Brambleclaw, who apparently weren't allowed 500 hundred feet off Briarlights property. Hollyleaf walked slowly down the street to Briarlights house, rehearsing what she was going to say. _Good morning, may I please buy some cocaine? No, that's no good, _Hollyleaf thought inwardly. By the time she walked up to Briarlights house, she still didn't have a clue of how she was going to ask for cocaine. Hollyleaf sighed and knocked on the door. Briarlight answered almost instantly.

"Hey Hollyleaf," she smiled kindly. "Excited for monopoly night? Lionblaze told you I'm coming right?"

"Yeah," Hollyleaf said awkwardly. "We got to take some shots together."

"Most definitely," Briarlight agreed. "Want to come see what I'm wearing tonight?"

"Uh, sure," Hollyleaf said. Briarlight led her into the house and up to her room. A pretty green dress was laid out on the bed.

"Wow," Hollyleaf said, mouth dropping. "That's beautiful. How much did it cost?"

"Not telling," Briarlight winked. "Think Lionblaze will like it?"

"He'd be satisfied if you wore sweat pants," Hollyleaf snorted. "Trust me, he's not that difficult to impress."

"Well, I want to look nice," Briarlight said.

"I'm sure you will. Now anyways, I want to ask you-"

"Wait till you see what else I got!" Briarlight cut her off. Hollyleaf groaned as her nerve went completely out the window. Briarlight reached behind her dresser and pulled out a sixty of Captain Moes 100 Spiced.

"Holy jeez," Hollyleaf sputtered. "That's gonna kill us!"

"You silly lightweight," Briarlight giggled. "I'll bet you one glass of this and you'll be hammered."

"Oh shut up."

"Now what were you going to say?" Briarlight asked.

"Oh yeah ... um, I was wondering if you could sell me some cocaine."

Briarlights smile drooped. "Oh. So this wasn't just a visit to see how I was doing?"

"No of course I wanted to see you," Hollyleaf said quickly.

"I know," Briarlight said. But her voice was hollow. "How much do you want?"

"Um, an eight ball," Hollyleaf said, hoping she didn't sound silly. Briarlight pulled a briefcase out from under her bed and pulled out a bag of white powder. The thought of snorting it made Hollyleafs stomach hurt.

"Here you go," Briarlight passed over the bag. "I didn't know you did cocaine, Hollyleaf."

"Oh I don't," Hollyleaf rushed to explain herself. "It's for some of my friends."

"Okay," Briarlight sounded relieved. "Don't ever do it. It's a bitch to quit."

"I'll bet," Hollyleaf shuddered slightly at the thought of being addicted to it.

"So, yeah. I'll need two hundred," Briarlight said, all business. Hollyleaf pulled out Firestars wad of cash and peeled off two hundred dollar bills. She passed them over, and shoved the deadly bag into her purse.

"Thanks," Hollyleaf muttered. "So yeah, I'll see you tonight."

"For sure."

Hollyleaf cast her one last smile before turning to walk down the hallway towards the door. As she passed through the living room, she paused. Two people she didn't know were sitting on the couch, watching a TV show.

"Hey," the girl nodded. "You're Lionblazes sister, right?"

"Uh, yeah," Hollyleaf replied. "Do I know you?"

"My names Blossomfall," she said kindly. "And this is my brother, Bumblestripe."

Bumblestripe smiled warmly at her. Hollyleaf locked eyes with his and nearly melted.

He was beautiful.

Even more beautiful then Ravenpaw.

"Hey," Hollyleaf said cooly, thankful her voice didn't crack. "I didn't know Briarlight had a brother and sister."

"Well that's us," Bumblestripe grinned. "So what you here for? Extacy?"

"Ah, no. Cocaine," Hollyleaf mumbled awkwardly. "But it's not for me."

"Too bad," Bumblestripe winked at her. "It would have been nice to do a line with you."

"Haha," Hollyleaf stammered nervously, not knowing what he meant. "Thanks for the offer. But I don't do drugs."

"I take it you drink, though," Blossomfall noted, glancing at the bag of alcohol in Hollyleafs hand.

"Well, you know. It's monopoly night," Hollyleaf said then mentally kicked herself for saying _monopoly night. _

"Oh so that's where Briarlights going!" Blossomfall said, realization hitting her. "Could I come too? It would be nice to meet some new people."

"Sure," Hollyleaf said, wondering how many people were going to be doing cocaine tonight. "Come over around seven."

"See you then," Bumblestripe smiled, making Hollyleaf feel weak in the knees. She grinned at him one last time before leaving the house.

"Lionblaze the food smells wonderful," Hollyleaf commented as she walked in the house. "I would have thought you would have made hamburgers, though."

"I made hamburger helper," Lionblaze said happily.

"Well of course," Hollyleaf said. "I should have known."

"Did you get the drugs from Briarlight?" Lionblaze asked loudly.

"For gods sake don't say it so loud!" Hollyleaf hissed. "What if the neighbors hear us?"

"DID YOU GET THE DRUGS FROM-"

Hollyleaf smacked him on the arm. "Shut up. By the way, Briarlights getting all dressed up for you."

"Oh rats," Lionblaze sighed. "I guess I'll have to change out of my sweat pants now."

"You might want to comb your hair too," Hollyleaf pointed out. "You look like a possum that got hit by a truck."

"Well thanks," Lionblaze snapped. Hollyleaf ignored the insulted look on her brothers face. "I wish Jayfeather was here with us," she said sadly. "Monopoly night's never the same without him."

"Yeah," Lionblaze agreed. "If he was here right now he'd probably be stealing your eyeliner right now and trying to fit into your skinny jeans."

"Probably," Hollyleaf smiled as she remembered the night Jayfeather had done just that. Then a thought hit her. "Oh yeah, I forgot to mention, I invited Blossomfall and Bumblestripe over tonight."

Lionblaze groaned at once. "Why did you have to do that?"

"Because they seem nice," Hollyleaf said, wondering why Lionblaze was getting so worked up. "And I think they appreciated the invitation."

"Wonderful idea. You just invited the biggest coke head and tramp over to drink with us."

"Bumblestripe is not a coke head," Hollyleaf snapped.

"You seem quick to defend him," Lionblaze snorted. "Let me guess- you took one look into his bloodshot eyes and realized he was your true love."

"Oh for gods sake," Hollyleaf snapped. "You're being stupid. They seem like nice people, and you're going to be nice to them."

"Until he offers me cocaine, I'm fine with him," Lionblaze muttered. Hollyleaf was about to shoot back a stinging retort when a knock on the door distracted her.

"We'll talk about this later," Hollyleaf growled as she walked over to the door. She opened it to see Briarlight standing there.

"Hey," Hollyleaf greeted her, suddenly feeling underdressed in her jeans and tee shirt.

"Hello," Briarlight replied. "Bumblestripe and Blossomfall with be here soon, I just wanted to come over to help you get dressed."

"What's wrong with what I'm wearing?" Hollyleaf said defensively.

"Well, nothing... but I thought you might like to, you know, dress up a little."

"Well okay," Hollyleaf said uneasily.

"By the way, my brother thinks you're cute," Briarlight said. Hollyleaf felt her heart drop. "Really?" she squeaked.

"Awww you like him too!" Briarlight squealed as she looked at Hollyleafs bright red face.

"No I don't," Hollyleaf mumbled. "Besides, I don't even have any good clothes to wear."

"I know. That's why I brought you some of mine," Briarlight said. Hollyleaf pretended she wasn't insulted. "Okay, show me what you brought." She led Briarlight up the stairs to her room. Briarlight pulled out several shreds of fabric that mildly resembled clothes.

"You expect me to wear this?" Hollyleaf cried, holding up a scrap of fabric that was supposed to be a shirt.

"You'll look cute in it,"Briarlight said. "Just try it on!"

Hollyleaf sighed and did as she was told. The shirt revealed her back completely, and showed her belly button. Not to mention the top part of her shirt was so low Hollyleaf felt completely exposed.

"This is nice, but I think I'm gonna stick with my tee shirt," Hollyleaf said kindly, doing her best not to hurt her friends feelings.

"Try this on!" Briarlight threw a skirt at her. Hollyleaf groaned inwardly and pulled it on. It was ridiculously short.

"Well, I think I'm gonna stick with my pants too," Hollyleaf decided. Briarlights face fell. "Why?" she whined.

"Its just that I feel so... exposed in this."

"You look hot," Briarlight said. "Just keep it on. Bumblestripe won't be able to take his eyes off you."

_Yeah, for all the wrong reasons, _Hollyleaf thought to herself. She was about to change into her tee shirt again, but the doorbell rang.

"You better get that," Briarlight smiled. Hollyleaf walked uncomfortably down the stairs, tugging her skirt down as she went.

"You look like a whore," Lionblaze called from the kitchen. Hollyleaf took off her high heeled shoe and flung it at him before opening the door. It was Firestar and Brambleclaw.

"Hey Hollyleaf, how's it goin-" Brambleclaws voice trailed off as he realized what she was wearing. "Well aren't you all dressed up."

"More like dressed down!" Lionblaze called. Hollyleaf took off her other shoe and threw it full force at him. It bounced off his head, making Hollyleaf giggle.

"Come in," Hollyleaf said to her friends. "We're waiting for a few more people then we'll get started.

"Uh huh," Brambleclaw mumbled.

"Hey!" Hollyleaf snapped her fingers in front of his face. "Eyes up here."

Brambleclaw dragged his eyes away from her chest. "Sorry," he mumbled. "You just look so ... nice."

"Uh huh," Hollyleaf snapped as she shut the door. "Dinners in the kitchen, I'll meet you there in a minute." Then she turned and raced upstairs to change her clothes. Luckily Briarlight wasn't up there anymore, so she wouldn't criticize Hollyleaf for changing out of her clothes. Just as she was in the process of pulling up her pants, the doorbell rang again. _Goddamn, _Hollyleaf hissed, making her way down to the door for the second time. She opened it to see Blossomfall and Bumblestripe standing there.

"Hey, I made you a cake," Blossomfall shoved a pathetic looking chocolate cake into Hollyleafs arms.

"Uh, thanks," Hollyleaf said, not really thankful at all. "Dinners in the kitchen."

"You look nice," Bumblestripe whispered as he walked by her. "Really nice."

Hollyleaf flushed red as she smiled, thinking maybe she wasn't going to change back into her tee-shirt after all.


	4. She's Dancing Alone

Lionblaze Stole the Stars

Chapter 4: She's Dancing Alone

"DO NOT PASS GO!" Lionblaze howled. "DO NOT COLLECT 200 DOLLARS!"

Hollyleaf grabbed the drink out of her brothers hands. "You've had enough," she snapped.

"Noooooo," Lionblaze slurred. "I'm not done!"

"Yes you are," Hollyleaf chugged back Lionblazes drink so he wouldn't drink it.

"You must think I'm retarded," Lionblaze smiled. "Ima just go pour another glass!"

Hollyleaf sighed as Lionblaze stumbled into the kitchen.

"Is he going to be okay?" Hawkfrost asked. Hollyleaf jumped, not realizing he was there.

"He'll be fine," Hollyleaf said reluctantly.

"How are you feeling?" Hawkfrost asked, taking a sip of his drink. Hollyleaf shrugged, head spinning slightly. "I'm a bit buzzed," she admitted. Hawkfrost giggled. "Me too."

"Where did Bumblestripe go?" Hollyleaf asked, realizing she hadn't seen him in a while.

"Probably snorting his life away with Firestar and Brambleclaw," Hawkfrost replied. Hollyleafs shoulders sagged. "I should have known," she muttered.

"Do you want another drink?" Hawkfrost asked sympathetically. Hollyleaf nodded her head yes.

"Do you want it strong or light?" Hawkfrost asked. Hollyleaf just gave him a look.

"Strong it is," Hawkfrost said, making Hollyleaf smile. While she was waiting for Hawkfrost to return, Hollyleaf combed her fingers through her long black hair, wincing as she caught more then a few tangles.

"Let me run my fingers through your hair," a voice suddenly said. Hollyleaf whipped around to see Bumblestripe standing there, his eyes glassy.

"Haha," Hollyleaf laughed nervously.

"Where did your drink go?" Bumblestripe asked.

"Hawkfrost is getting me one," Hollyleaf explained. Bumblestripe smiled and sat down beside her. "You can have some of mine while you wait," he grinned. Hollyleaf didn't want to drink very much more, but she took it anyway so not to be rude. While she was sipping it, Lionblaze suddenly burst into the room.

"IM WASTED-" he shouted, then stopped when he realized Bumblestripe was sitting very close to Hollyleaf. "Oh I see what's goin on," Lionblaze did some failed winks and stumbled back into the kitchen.

"I haven't been that drunk in a long time," Hollyleaf smirked.

"Why not? Don't like drinking?" Bumblestripe asked. Hollyleaf looked into his bloodshot eyes and sighed. "I just don't like getting slammed out of my mind," she said.

"That makes sense. You don't like to slow down," Bumblestripe said as he sipped his drink.

"I don't like to what?"

"Slow down. Alcohols a depressant, you know."

"I guess."

"So you don't like to slow down... what if I told you I could make you fly?" Bumblestripe smiled at Hollyleafs surprised expression.

"You mean cocaine?" Hollyleaf asked stupidly. Bumblestripe nodded his head yes. "It will take you places you can't even imagine," Bumblestripe smiled. Hollyleaf couldn't meet his eyes.

"I don't know about that," Hollyleaf mumbled, wincing at how lame she sounded.

"Come on, you'll love it," Bumblestripe pressed. Then Hawkfrost walked into the room, and Hollyleaf thanked her lucky stars for the distraction.

"Thanks," she said as Hawkfrost passed her the drink. Then she mustered all the dignity she could muster and turned to face Bumblestripe. "I think I'm just going to get really drunk tonight," she said confidently. "I don't want to mix cocaine with alcohol."

Bumblestripe smiled. "Suit yourself," he said. "I think I'll join you."

Lionblaze danced around the living room, singing at the top of his lungs. He knocked back the rest of his drink, not caring that half of it ended up on his shirt. Then he felt a tap on his shoulder.

"Hey," Blossomfall smiled. Lionblaze grinned happily.

"Hey _Briarlight," _he slurred. Then he leaned over and kissed Blossomfall smack on the lips. "I love you," he said, looking into her eyes. Blossomfall widened her eyes as she realized what happened. Then she narrowed her eyes and smiled, and then leaned over and kissed Lionblaze back. "Want to dance with me?" she asked. Lionblaze drunkenly threw his arms around her shoulders and swung her around.

They danced like that for a long time, going round and round in a circle.

"Has anyone seen my brother?" Hollyleaf called worriedly, pushing her way through all the people in her living room. More and more people kept arriving, and Hollyleaf was starting to get worried, since Lionblaze was no where to be seen. Then she saw Briarlight.

"Hey! Where's Lionblaze?" Hollyleaf yelled over the music. Briarlight just shrugged. Hollyleaf groaned, not sure what to do. Then Bumblestripe came out of nowhere, looking even more drugged out then before.

"Have you seen Lionblaze?" Hollyleaf asked. Bumblestripe ignored her, and leaned in and kissed her. Surprised, Hollyleaf pulled away. But Bumblestripe was persistent, he pulled her closer and kissed her again.

"Hey," Hollyleaf said, pulling away. "What are you-"

Bumblestripe yanked her towards him, and Hollyleaf winced as she realized how strong he was.

"Let's go somewhere where we can be alone," he hissed. Hollyleaf was starting to get frightened. She tried to yank herself away, but she couldn't. "Get off me," Hollyleaf pushed against his chest to try and get away, but then realization hit her.

She couldn't get away.

Bumblestripe yanked her down the hall, covering Hollyleafs mouth with his hands. Hollyleaf kicked and clawed at him, but he refused to let go. Hollyleaf was getting desperate. She clawed the walls of the hallway, trying to get a grip. But hope was lost.

Bumblestripe opened the door to her room and pushed her inside. Hollyleaf painfully fell to the floor. Head spinning and eyes blurry, Hollyleaf could barely see Bumblestripe as he locked the door. Then a voice from behind her distracted her.

"Hollyleaf?" Lionblaze whispered. Hollyleaf turned around to see her brother and nearly choked in surprise.

Blossomfall was there, lying on top of him.

Then Bumblestripe yanked her off the ground, painfully bruising her arm. She gave Lionblaze one last look, desperate.

"Help me," Hollyleaf whispered.


	5. Cries and Lies

Lionblaze Stole the Stars

Chapter 5: Cries and Lies

"Help me."

Bumblestripe grabbed Hollyleaf again, and dug his fingernails into the skin on her arm.

"You're hurting me," Hollyleaf cried. "Stop it!"

She could barely hear the confused cry from Lionblaze, who was watching the scene with wide eyes. Bumblestripe yanked her towards the door, making Hollyleaf cry out in pain again.

"This rooms taken," he hissed. "So let's find an empty one."

"Hey," Lionblaze slurred. "Leave her alone-"

"Shut up you drunk idiot!" Bumblestripe snapped. "Or I'll effing hit you!"

"Lionblaze!" Hollyleaf shrieked as she was dragged out of the room. Bumblestripe put his hand over her mouth so she couldn't speak anymore. Hollyleaf took the opportunity to bite down on his hand, hard. Bumblestripe yanked his hand back in pain. "You stupid bitch!" he hissed, then pushed her down into an empty room. He slammed the door shut, and locked it.

"Lionblaze!" Hollyleaf screamed again, but it was no use. The music pulsing through the house drowned out her voice completely. She ran to the corner of the room as Bumblestripe started advancing towards her. He smiled evilly at her.

"You can't run from me," he growled. "They never get away."

"Go to hell," Hollyleaf spat.

"Oh I'm already going," Bumblestripe hissed. "But I'm taking you with me." He grabbed Hollyleaf and tried to pick her up. Hollyleaf kicked at him, and her foot met with his leg.

"Goddamn!" he swore. "That's it, you're fucking dead-"

"Lionblaze!" Hollyleaf screamed for the third time, getting very scared.

"Your brothers not going to help you," Bumblestripe growled. "He's too busy screwing my sister to care about you."

"I hate you," Hollyleaf whispered. "I hate you so fucking much!"

"Tell me you love me," Bumblestripe grabbed her by the neck and squeezed. Hollyleaf realized she couldn't breathe. "I hate you," she choked out."

Bumblestripe let go. "Wrong answer," he hissed, then picked her up and threw her on the bed. Hollyleaf was just on the verge of giving up when a thought hit her.

"Can we do some of your cocaine first?" she asked. Bumblestripe raised an eyebrow. "I thought you didn't do drugs," he said.

"I lied. I really want to do some," Hollyleaf lied. Bumblestripe shrugged. "Well it's not like you're going anywhere," he growled, then pulled out his bag of white powder. Hollyleaf waited patiently for him to set up a white line on the bedside table.

"You go first," he hissed, pushing her towards it. Hollyleafs heart pounded as she leaned her face down to the cocaine. Then she sat up. "This is no good," she said disgustedly. "It's a bad batch."

"No it's not you idiot," Bumblestripe leaned his face down to look at it. "It's the best you can fucking buy."

It all happened at once.

When Bumblestripe had leaned down to look at it, Hollyleaf leaned down to and blew it all into his face. He screamed as it got into his eyes. Hollyleaf leaped up and ran to the door, but even while blind, Bumblestripe was fast. He grabbed Hollyleaf by the ankle and dragged her back to him.

"YOU BITCH!" he screamed. Hollyleaf stretched forward as far as she could and unlocked the door. Bumblestripe, blinded by the cocaine, didn't notice. Hollyleaf whipped around and kicked Bumblestripe with her other foot as hard as she could. He let go of her at once, and Hollyleaf streaked out of the room. Lionblaze was in the hall, calling her name. When he saw her he ran forward, face twisted with anger. "Where is he?" he growled. Hollyleaf shakily pointed to the guest room.

"You get everyone out, I'll take care of him," Lionblaze said, then stormed into the room. Hollyleaf walked into the heart of the party and yelled at the top of her lungs. "EVERYBODY OUT!" She clicked the music off, ignoring the protests from the others. "NOW!"

People muttered angrily as they left the house, taking their bottles and drugs with them. Hollyleaf let them clear out and ran back down the hall to see if Lionblaze needed help.

He didn't.

He had Bumblestripe pinned to the wall, shouting menacing things into his ear.

"THINK YOU CAN MESS WITH MY SISTER?" he was yelling. Then he punched Bumblestripe square across the jaw. "THINK YOU CAN TREAT HER LIKE ONE OF YOUR TOYS?" he punched him again. Bumblestripes legs crumpled and he fell to the floor, gasping for air. Lionblaze was just rearing back to punch him again, when Hollyleaf spoke.

"Lionblaze, stop. He's had enough."

Lionblaze dropped him, and let him thud painfully to the floor.

He didn't get up.

_Ring ring_

Jayfeather heard the phone ring from the other room. "Can you answer it?" he asked Cloudtail, not wanting to get up off the couch. Cloudtail got up and answered it.

"Hello?"

Then he turned to Jayfeather. "It's Hollyleaf," he mouthed, then passed him the phone.

"Hello?" Jayfeather grunted, not tearing his eyes from his TV show.

"Can me and Lionblaze come up and see you for a while?" Hollyleaf asked. Jayfeather realized she was crying.

"Hey what's wrong?" he asked worriedly.

"There was just an incident last night," Hollyleaf choked. "I can't stay in that house any longer, and neither can Lionblaze."

"Of course you can come over," Jayfeather said.

"Okay," Hollyleaf said, voice wavering. "See you soon."

Jayfeather opened his mouth to say something else but stopped.

The line had gone dead.


	6. So Problematic

Lionblaze Stole the Stars

Chapter 6: So Problematic

"IT'S RAINING!" Lionblaze howled. He was violently shaking his hamburger, causing the ketchup and mustard to fly all over the table.

"Lionblaze!" Jayfeather snapped as a splotch of ketchup landed on his face. "Stop it."

"EARTHQUAKE!" Lionblaze slammed his burger onto the table, which knocked over his iced tea. Hollyleaf hissed as it spilled onto her lap. "For gods sake!" she snapped. "Can't we just have a normal meal without you being a total idiot?"

Lionblaze shrugged and stuffed the rest of his hamburger into his mouth, chewing noisily. Hollyleaf rolled her eyes, and Cloudtail giggled.

"Lionblaze, you're so funny," he smiled. Lionblaze beamed.

"Don't encourage it," Hollyleaf growled as she took a sip of her root beer.

"What's the problem? He's just having fun," Cloudtail said defensively. Lionblaze grinned even harder. "Thank you," he said happily, making Jayfeather scowl. "Stop looking at him like that," he snapped. Lionblaze dragged his eyes away from Cloudtail. "Huh?" he mumbled.

"Jeez!" Jayfeather shook his head in disgust. "You were so busy staring at _my _boyfriend to hear me!"

"I wasn't _staring at him," _Lionblaze stammered at once. Cloudtail grinned as Lionblazes face turned bright red.

"I was just happy he was defending me," Lionblaze explained.

"Careful, Jayfeather," Hollyleaf smiled. "It looks like you have some competition."

"OH FOR GODS SAKE," Lionblaze said crossly. "You're all being stupid."

"I don't think we're as stupid as you take us for," Hollyleaf waggled her eyebrows. "I see what's goin on here."

"What? Don't you like me?" Cloudtail gave Lionblaze an over dramatic hurt look.

"I-I do! I do! Just not in that way!" Lionblaze stuttered, completely flustered now.

Jayfeather glared at Lionblaze from across the table as he watched the scene before him go on.

"Dude, help me with this! You know I wouldn't like Cloudtail that way! ... Right?"

Jayfeather didn't have the chance to say anything before Lionblaze felt an arm go around his shoulders. "Come on, don't be that way!" Cloudtail grinned at how flustered Lionblaze was getting.

"If you two don't stop I'm leaving!" Lionblaze yelled, causing most of the other people in Catianas to look at him.

"Your over reacting! We were just teasing," Hollyleaf called after Lionblaze as he got up and stormed to the door.

Hollyleaf sighed as she heard the restaurants front doors slam closed. She turned back to the table to see Cloudtail trying to calm Jayfeather down as he fumed as of result of the conversation.

Lionblaze waited in the parking lot with a cigarette since Jayfeather and Cloudtail had the keys to his only ride back to their house. He took a long drag of the cigarette about to breathe out when he heard footsteps.

On instinct, he hid the cigarette behind his back but it was painfully obvious he was smoking do to him breathing out the smoke he had just inhaled.

"Lionblaze, really?" Jayfeather walked up to him shivering from the cold air that was brought with a strong wind. Lionblaze blew all the smoke out at once, causing a cloud to billow out around his brothers face. Jayfeather started coughing. "Blow it away from me!" he said in disgust. "I don't want your gross second hand smoke."

Lionblaze stomped out the smoke with his foot. "I think Cloudtail was making a move on me," he said crossly. Jayfeather snorted. "He was so not," he said. "He was just being silly. We were just teasing you."

"It didn't feel like teasing," Lionblaze mumbled.

"Why are you taking this so personally?" Jayfeather asked. "And if you don't mind me asking, why did you get all red in the face when Cloudtail put his arm around you?"

"Because I felt uncomfortable and awkward!" Lionblaze cried. "I thought that would have been obvious."

"You don't get awkward, Lionblaze. You never do."

"Well there's a first time for everything, isn't there?" Lionblaze snapped. Jayfeather grinned. "Yeah. You've gotta crush on my boyfriend."

"That's a fucking load of garbage!" Lionblaze screeched. "I don't have a _crush _on him!"

"Then why are you getting so defensive?"

"Why are you making such a big deal out of this?"

"Because I think you're denying your feelings."

Lionblaze sighed, and was about to say something else when Hollyleaf and Cloudtail walked up.

"Hey lover," Cloudtail smiled, and then put his arms around Lionblaze. Lionblazes face turned scarlet as he heard someone whistle from a little ways away.

"What are you doing!" Lionblaze pulled himself away from Cloudtail.

"What do you think?" Cloudtail smirked at Lionblaze as he tried to cool his face down before his siblings or Cloudtail noticed, it was a failed attempt.

"Hey you not turning gay on us, are you? Cause I know this great gay bar that you could go to, to pick up a lot of hot guys!" Hollyleaf gave Lionblaze a suggestive smile.

"Jeez! Would you guys just give me a rest, I'm not gay!"

"Whatever you say," said Jayfeather as he patted Lionblaze on the shoulder. "Can we go now? I'm freezing my ass off!"

"Alright, we're going. I know how much you hate the winter." spoke Cloudtail in a soft tone as he hugged Jayfeather.

"Shot gun!" Hollyleaf suddenly yelled and jumped into the front seat of the car, successfully killing the mood.

Jayfeather got into the drivers side and sighed when he turned on the heat, which left Lionblaze and Cloudtail with the back. Lionblaze hesitated at first but got in when Hollyleaf yelled, "Get in the effing car!"

"Fine, fine. No need to yell!"

When he got into the car scowling Cloudtail looked over at him, "What? Scared that if you are around me too long you'll discover your true feelings for me?"

Lionblazes face, which had finely gotten to its normal color again turned hot again. "As if! S-shut up!"

Lionblaze crossed his arms and looked out the window with a frown on his face.

"Aw, are you upset?" Hollyleaf teased.

"I don't even know why you guys started this conversation, I have a girlfriend!"

"Hey, can't blame us for having a bit of fun!" Hollyleaf defended, waving her hands in surrender.

Cloudtail coughed suggestively and stretched his arm around Lionblazes shoulders. Jayfeather saw from the mirror in the front and snorted. Lionblaze batted his hand off and slumped into his seat, feeling annoyed.

And confused.

Lionblaze pulled out a smoke and lit it angrily. Cloudtail watched in silence as he finished the whole thing in two minutes flat.

"You're gonna get lung cancer," Cloudtail pointed out.

"Well you're gonna get liver failure you freaking alcoholic," Lionblaze shot back, knowing how much Cloudtail liked to drink.

"You drink a lot too," Hollyleaf pointed out.

"Not as much as you!"

"Shut up, both of you," Jayfeather growled. "You're so effing annoying."

Lionblaze sat on the couch, aimlessly flipping through the TV channels. He felt very confused, and when he thought about them it still didn't make any sense at all.

_1. I kissed BLOSSOMFALL? Like what the hell?_

_2. Hollyleaf almost gets raped by a drug dealer._

_3. I punched the drug dealer in the face. Heehee_

_4. We move in with Jayfeather and Cloudtail. _

_5. Cloudtail making the moves on me? But he's only kidding. (?)_

_6. Why am I so bothered about Cloudtail pretending to make the moves on me?_

"Hey," a voice distracted Lionblaze from his thoughts. He looked up to see Hollyleaf standing there, holding a variety of things in her hands.

"I'm sorry," she apologized. "I didn't mean to make you uncomfortable before."

"It's okay," Lionblaze accepted her apology, knowing she meant it. "What's all that stuff your holding?"

"Vodka," Hollyleaf handed him a tall glass of vodka mixed with sprite. "And here's some of my favorite movies. We could watch them together if you want."

"That sounds nice," Lionblaze smiled happily, forgetting his confusion at once.

Lionblaze shifted around where he was laying, and groaned when finding in his half asleep state that he had fallen asleep on the couch. He heard a groan from beside him and a weight shift on his shoulder making him confused.

When he opened his eyes he nearly jumped out of his skin, "Agh!"

Cloudtail was leaning on his shoulder asleep, Lionblaze only remembered watching movies with Hollyleaf not with Cloudtail here too!

His surprised had woken Cloudtail. Cloudtail opened his eyes to see Lionblaze flustered, trying to move as far from Cloudtail on the couch as he possibly could. "Oh, hi Lionblaze! I must of fallen asleep after I joined Hollyleaf to watch movies after you fell asleep, sorry bout that!"

Cloudtail gave Lionblaze a hug which made Lionblaze more uncomfortable, he seemed way to cheerful in the morning.

"Let's set some ground rules here," Lionblaze huffed. "Under no circumstance do you _ever _sleep with your head on my shoulders."

"Okay. Now let me make some ground rules," Cloudtail smiled evenly. "Under no circumstance do you _ever _let me be around you when you're drunk again."

Lionblazes satisfied expression dissolved. "Why," he said, voice turning to dread. "What did I do?"

"I'd rather not say," Cloudtail sighed, then got up. "I'm making coffee. Would you like some?"

"Don't try to change the subject!" Lionblaze growled. "Seriously, what did I do?"

"You just... said some things," Cloudtail said awkwardly.

"Do I want to know what they are?"

"No."

"Okay well, whatever I said, I take it back," Lionblaze said, not knowing what else he could really do.

"Good enough," Cloudtail smiled, then walked into the kitchen. Lionblaze felt his heart racing.

_What could I have possibly said that was so bad?_

He groggily got up and stumbled his way into the kitchen. "I'll have some coffee," he yawned.

"A bit hungover, are we?" Cloudtail said as he poured Lionblaze a cup.

"Just a bit," Lionblaze said as he took a sip. At once he recoiled back. "I burned my tongue," He said sadly.

"Oh I'm sorry," Cloudtail said sarcastically. "Should I have given you cold coffee?"

"Funny," Lionblaze snapped. "But I see Jayfeathers been wearing off on you."

Cloudtail cocked an eyebrow and took a sip of his coffee. Lionblazes looked at him for a second then realized he was turning red all over again.

He realized right then and there he had a problem.

"Hollyleaf!" Lionblaze whined. Hollyleaf opened her door. "What?" she snapped. "I'm kind of busy," she pointed to her TV which had a paused Nintendo game on it.

"I need to talk to you about something serious," Lionblaze said, then burst into tears.

"What? What's going on?" Hollyleaf asked worriedly. "Are you okay?"

"No I'm not okay!" Lionblaze bawled. "Every time I look at him I turn all red and weird and I don't know what's _wrong with me!" _

"What are you talking abou- oh," Hollyleaf said, realization hitting her at once. "I take it you've been having a hard time averting your eyes from Cloudtail recently?"

Lionblaze miserably nodded his head. "I'm not gay though!" he cried. "I like _girls!" _

"I know," Hollyleaf said. "Hm..."

"What?" Lionblaze said. "What are you "Hmmmming" about?"

"I think what your feeling is a temporary attraction," Hollyleaf said at last.

"_A temporary attraction?" _Lionblaze said disgustedly. "That sounds stupid."

"Stupid or not, it's the truth," Hollyleaf said. "And whether you like it or not, you're going to have to do something about it."

"Like what?" Lionblaze cried.

"Like tell him?"

Lionblaze and Hollyleaf whipped around to see Jayfeather standing there with his arms crossed.

"How long have you been standing there?" Lionblaze asked, his voice unusually high.

"Long enough," Jayfeather snapped. "God Lionblaze, why the hell did you have to turn gay for _my _boyfriend?"

"I didn't _turn gay!" _Lionblaze howled.

"I don't think he turned gay," Cloudtails voice suddenly entered the conversation. Lionblaze shrieked and whipped around. "You weren't supposed to hear any of this!" he said. "Leave! Now!"

"Oh be quiet," Cloudtail snapped. "You just have a slight attraction towards me. It's no surprise, I mean, lots of people do."

Jayfeather hissed from where he was standing, but Cloudtail ignored him. "The thing you have to keep in mind though, Lionblaze, is that it will go away. Fairly soon, I think."

"How?" Lionblaze whined.

"Kiss him," Jayfeather said suddenly. Hollyleaf choked on her diet coke she was drinking. Lionblaze felt like his heart fell out of his chest. Cloudtail just stared at Jayfeather.

"How will that resolve anything?" Cloudtail asked. Jayfeather shrugged. "If he get's it out of his system, it won't be a problem anymore."

Lionblaze had never felt so awkward in his entire life. "That seems a bit unreasonable," he said uneasily.

"Uh, yeah," Cloudtail snapped. "Jayfeather, don't you think it would be weird if I kiss your _brother?"_

Hollyleaf snorted. "Yeah."

"Stay out of this," Jayfeather snapped. Then he turned to Lionblaze. "I think it's a good idea," he admitted. "I think it will help."

"I don't know..." Lionblaze shuffled his feet.

"Oh for gods sake, its not like he's asking you to do anything inappropriate," Cloudtail smiled.

"Kissing is inappropriate," Lionblaze grumbled.

"You know you want to," Cloudtail waggled his eyebrows.

"You don't have to act so excited about it," Jayfeather hissed. Cloudtails head snapped around so he could face him. "I'm not," he said truthfully. "I just want to help Lionblaze."

"Okay," Lionblaze squeezed his eyes shut. "Just do it."

"Okay," Cloudtail leaned over and kissed Lionblaze smack on the lips. "See? Was that so bad?"

Lionblaze opened his eyes. "You were right," he said. "Attractions completely gone."

Jayfeather gave a sigh of relief. Hollyleaf was trying not to giggle. Cloudtail looked at his reflection in a window and fixed his hair.

"So what?" Lionblaze said at last. "Does everything just go back to normal?"

Hollyleaf and Jayfeather shrugged. "Guess so."

Lionblaze sipped his coffee as he walked out of the room, shaking his head disgustedly. "What a weird morning this has been."

**Hello everyone! I'd just like to point something out before I say anything else: Lionblaze is not gay. If I get any negative reviews regarding this then I will hunt you down and feed you to my cats. **

**ANYWAYS.**

**I'd like to mention a special thank you to my bestest friend, Taylor (SouthKorea da-zee) who helped me write this. Can you tell what parts aren't my writing? Haha ... anyways, please review :3 I appreciate it! **

**- malicent **


	7. Scissors

Lionblaze Stole the Stars

Chapter 7: Scissors

"What's with all the cheese?" Jayfeather asked disgustedly. Hollyleaf slopped more cheese onto the broccoli. "I'm trying to make broccoli more fun," Hollyleaf explained.

"More like your trying to make us all fat," Jayfeather snatched the cheese from Hollyleaf, who whined in protest.

"That's enough," Jayfeather said as he put the cheese back in the fridge. Hollyleaf grumbled something inaudible as she stirred the broccoli mixture.

"Something smells good!" Lionblaze cried, bursting into the kitchen. Hollyleaf beamed. "This is the first time I've cooked something good!" she said happily. Jayfeather snorted. "Yeah right. All you did was melt some cheese on some broccoli."

"Well at least I didn't burn it," Hollyleaf hissed. Jayfeather was about to shoot back a stinging retort when he stopped. Lionblaze had taken the cheese back out of the fridge and had dumped the entire thing into the broccoli.

"For gods sake," Jayfeather snapped. "That, is _gross. _I refuse to eat it."

"Fine," Hollyleaf said defensively. "Me and Lionblaze will enjoy it ourselves."

Lionblaze slopped a pile of cheese/broccoli onto his plate and sat down on the table. "Jayfeather, get me a glass of milk," he demanded.

"Get your own freaking milk," Jayfeather snapped.

"You're grumpy today," Hollyleaf pointed out. Jayfeather sighed and stormed out of the room.

"It's probably his time of the month," Lionblaze said, chewing loudly as he spoke. Hollyleaf giggled.

**(Page break)**

"Why do you look so annoyed?" Cloudtail asked. Jayfeather slumped angrily onto the couch and crossed his arms. "Hollyleaf and Lionblaze are sitting in the kitchen eating this gross cheese thing and making fun of me."

"Did you provoke them?" Cloudtail asked warily. Jayfeather shrugged. "Maybe."

"Then just ignore them," Cloudtail smiled.

"I don't want to eat the cheese thing," Jayfeather said crossly.

"No ones forcing you to eat it," Cloudtail pointed out. Jayfeather rolled his eyes.

"I have an idea. Let's just order a pizza," Cloudtail suggested.

"That sounds nice," Jayfeather forgot his annoyance at once.

**Later**

"I feel sick!" Lionblaze howled, flopping down onto the couch. Jayfeather smiled. "Maybe you ate too much cheese."

"Shut up," Lionblaze grumbled. "I couldn't help myself."

"Obviously not."

Lionblaze just groaned. Then Hollyleaf stumbled into the room, clutching her stomach. "I think I'm gonna be sick," she said.

"And who's fault is that?" Jayfeather snapped.

"The cheese's."

"It's your fault!" Jayfeather cried. "The cheese was just a contributing factor."

Hollyleaf sat down on the couch next to Lionblaze. "I'm never making that again."

"I'll bet. Now where the hell is our pizza?" It had been nearly an hour since Cloudtail had ordered it.

"I want pizza," Lionblaze grumbled. Jayfeather glared at him. "No more food for you!" he snapped.

"If I ate pizza I'd probably throw up all over the floor," Hollyleaf said.

"Classy," Cloudtail giggled.

Hollyleaf undid the button on her pants, her usually flat stomach stuck out. "That feels so much better," she said.

"You're weird," Jayfeather sighed, noticing Hollyleaf had a piece of cheese stuck to her face. Then the doorbell rang.

"Pizza!" Lionblaze bellowed, then charged over to the door. He ripped the door open like a maniac . The pizza delivery guy stood there, looking at Lionblaze like he was a lunatic.

"Um, here's your pizza," he said, handing over the pizza box. The Hollyleaf let out a cry of surprise from the other room. "Tigerheart!" she said, then ran over. Tigerheart giggled, and pointed to the cheese stuck on her face. Hollyleaf embarrassedly wiped it off.

"You might want to do your pants up too," Lionblaze pointed out loudly.

"HA!" Jayfeather cackled from the other room.

"I hate you!" Hollyleaf yelled back as she buttoned her pants back up. Then she turned to Tigerheart, feeling awkward. _What do I say? _She thought, desperate for something to say to Tigerheart. _He probably thinks I'm a freak!" _

"I don't usually look this fat," she blurted out. "I just look this way cause I ate a lot of cheese."

Tigerheart stared at her for a heartbeat. "I have to go," he said abruptly, then turned and walked away. Hollyleaf shut the door, then turned and glared at Lionblaze. "What the hell Lionblaze! You totally embarrassed me!"

"I was just warning you you're pants were unbuttoned," Lionblaze said.

"You didn't have to scream it across the effing room!" Hollyleaf cried. She could still hear Jayfeather laughing about it from the other room. "Shut up!" Hollyleaf shrieked.

Lionblaze carried his pizza to the living room. "Why do you care what Tigerheart thinks anyway?" he called. Hollyleaf stopped to think about that for a minute. "I don't know," she said truthfully. "I really don't."

"Isn't he the guy you hung out with on my birthday?" Lionblaze suddenly asked.

"Yeah..." Hollyleaf said, not sure why Lionblaze was starting to get defensive.

"He was the one you spent the night at his house?" Lionblaze growled.

"Yes," Hollyleaf huffed. "We were friends before that. Now he probably just thinks I'm an idiot."

"I know how to fix this," Jayfeather broke into the conversation. "Order another pizza."

"He'll think I'm a freak!" Hollyleaf cried.

"You could just make an excuse why you're acting weird. Say you're drunk or something," Lionblaze suggested. Hollyleaf groaned. "He'll think that's even weirder! Seriously, Lionblaze. Who gets drunk at six in the afternoon?"

"I do, quite frequently," Lionblaze said. He picked up the phone. "Go fix your hair or whatever," he said as he dialed the number. "I'll get Tigerheart back over here so you can set things straight. Hollyleaf sighed and charged up to her room. As she waited for her hair straightener to turn on, she put another layer of makeup on her face.

"You have ten minutes before he's here!" Lionblaze called from downstairs. Hollyleaf grabbed her straightening iron and started on her hair. Then something distracted her. _Where is my mascara? _It was always sitting right next to her mirror, but it was gone. _Frikin Cloudtail or Jayfeather must have stole it, _Hollyleaf thought angrily. Then she realized with a jolt of alarm that she had the scalding hot straightening iron clamped on her hair while she was thinking. Smoke was clouding above her.

"OH MY GOD," Hollyleaf shrieked, yanking the iron off.

Half her hair came with it.

"OH MY FUCKING GOD!" Hollyleaf screamed. She threw the iron across the room, and with trembling hands she touched the short fried hair on the side of her head. She looked in the mirror. One side of her head had long black hair down to her chest. The other side barely reached her chin, and the bottoms were so fried they had turned gray.

"Hollyleaf! He's here!" Lionblaze called.

Hollyleaf burst into tears.

**(Page break)**

"Oh come on, it's not that bad," Cloudtail said sympathetically. Jayfeather looked at his crying sister, and felt very sad for her. He knew how much she loved her long hair, it had taken so long for her to grow.

"I'm sure you'll look nice with short hair," Lionblaze said. Hollyleaf cried even harder.

"Why don't you let me cut it for you?" Cloudtail offered. "I cut my own hair all the time."

"You might as well," Hollyleaf said miserably. Cloudtail got up to get the scissors from the kitchen.

"Tigerheart must think I'm a loser now," Hollyleaf sniffed. "You should have seen the look on his face when he saw me."

"I did see," Jayfeather said sympathetically. "I think he overreacted a bit. Just wait till Cloudtail fixes your hair," he smiled. "He'll see how beautiful you are without that fried lump of hair sticking to the side of your head."

Hollyleaf smiled. "Thanks," she said. Cloudtail then entered the room with a huge pair of scissors.

"Where did those come from?" Hollyleaf asked. Cloudtail stared at the scissors. "I don't really know," he admitted. Then he shrugged. "Who cares. Ready for a haircut?"

Hollyleaf gulped. "I guess," she said quietly.

**Twenty minutes later**

"You can open your eyes now," Cloudtail said. Hollyleaf had her eyes shut the entire time he was cutting her hair. She peeked one eye open, then squeezed it back shut again.

"It's so short," she whispered.

"It looks cute!" Lionblaze encouraged. "Come on, Hollyleaf, open your eyes!"

Hollyleaf took a deep breath and then opened her eyes. Cloudtail had nearly chopped every strand of hair off her head. Her long bangs were gone, replaced with short ones that barely reached her eyebrows. Her hair nearly reached her chin, and it was nicely layered. Cloudtail had actually done a nice job.

It made Hollyleaf want to cry.

"Thank you," Hollyleaf choked, still upset her long hair was gone. "It looks great."

Cloudtail beamed. "I knew you'd like it," he smiled. "And just for the record, you look so much cuter with short hair."

"Yeah! If you weren't my sister I'd date you!" Lionblaze put in, trying to be helpful. Everyone looked at him strangely. Lionblaze happy expression turned to one of awkwardness. "I realize now that was a very weird thing to say," he mumbled. "I didn't mean it how it sounded."

"Whatever, Lionblaze." Jayfeather sighed. "Hollyleaf, you look great. Stop looking so sad."

Hollyleaf forced herself to stop frowning. "Yeah. It looks nice," she said, her voice hollow. Then a thought occurred to her. "Did one of you steal my mascara?" Hollyleaf asked, looking back and forth between Jayfeather and Cloudtail.

"No," Jayfeather snapped.

"I have my own," Cloudtail said.

Lionblaze shifted his feet uncomfortably. Hollyleaf glared at him. "You stole my mascara?" she demanded.

"I just wanted to see what it looked like," Lionblaze mumbled. Jayfeather and Cloudtail both burst into laughter.

"Oh be quiet," Lionblaze growled. "I nearly poked my eye out with the damn stuff!"

"If you want, I can show you how to apply lipstick later," Hollyleaf said jokingly. Lionblaze glared at her, face turning red. "Don't be silly," he said.

"You're the silly one, Lionblaze!" Hollyleaf giggled. "Stealing my mascara... isn't that Jayfeathers job?"

"Hey!" Jayfeather snapped. "I only did that once."

"I'm so done with this conversation," Lionblaze snapped. Then he picked up his pizza and stomped out of the room.


	8. Kit Korlans

Lionblaze Stole the Stars

Chapter 8: Kit Korlans

"What should we do today?" Hollyleaf asked. "I'm bored."

"We could order take-out," Lionblaze suggested. Hollyleaf groaned. "We do that every night!"

"Well I like take-out," Lionblaze said defensively.

"I'm aware," Hollyleaf snapped.

"I know!" Lionblaze suddenly burst out. "We could check out that new bar that just opened up down the street!"

Hollyleaf pondered that for a minute. "I've heard sketchy things about that place though," she said.

Lionblaze shrugged. "So?"

"So I don't know if it's a good idea to go there," Hollyleaf explained as if Lionblaze were extremely dumb.

"Are you talking about Kit Korlans?" Hollyleaf jumped as she heard Jayfeathers voice enter their conversation. "I heard it's sketchy too."

"Aw, well, I think we should go anyway," Lionblaze grumbled. Hollyleaf was just about to say something else but stopped when the doorbell rang.

"I'll get it," Lionblaze said, getting off the couch. He opened the door to see a girl he'd never seen before. She was young, she looked maybe fourteen or fifteen.

"Hi," Lionblaze said.

"Hello," she smiled. "My name is Dovewing, and I was wondering if you'd be interested in supporting a local charity for homeless cats. Would you like more information?"

"Yeah!" Lionblaze said. Dovewing actually looked surprised, Lionblaze figure she must not get many people to listen to her.

"Well, if you donate only five dollars a month, you can save a cats life," Dovewing recited. "And if you donate ten dollars you can save two."

"Hollyleaf, get your wallet!" Lionblaze shouted behind his shoulder. Then he turned to Dovewing. "I'll donate twenty!" he said happily. Dovewing beamed. Hollyleaf walked over to the door. "What?" she snapped at Lionblaze. "Don't you have your own money?"

"I spent it all," Lionblaze whined. When Hollyleaf looked skeptical, Lionblaze pressed on. "Come on, Hollyleaf! Don't you want to save some cats?"

"Well yeah, but seriously," Hollyleaf said. "There are millions of stray cats everywhere. We can't save them all."

"Please," Lionblaze whined. Hollyleaf sighed and yanked out a twenty dollar bill. "This is all you get," she said to Lionblaze, then stalked away.

Lionblaze handed Dovewing the twenty dollar bill.

"Thank you," she said. "And I couldn't help overhear you talking about Kit Korlans. I work there, it's not as bad as it looks."

Lionblaze was confused. He was talking about the bar _before _he opened the door to see Dovewing.

_How had she heard our conversation?_

"How are you working at a bar?" Lionblaze asked, dismissing his thoughts. "How old are you?"

"15," Dovewing smiled. "But when you know the right people, Lionblaze, you can be as old as you want to be."

"Huh," Lionblaze said. "Well, come back next month and I'll give you more money for your charity."

He said goodbye and shut the door, his confused thoughts still nagging at the back of his mind.

**(Page break)**

"I can't believe you dragged me here," Hollyleaf angrily sipped her drink. Hollyleaf, Lionblaze, Jayfeather and Cloudtail were sitting at a table at Kit Korlans. Lionblaze happily looked around him. The place wasn't nearly as bad as he thought it would be. It was actually quite a classy place.

"Hey, isn't that the girl that was at our door earlier?" Hollyleaf whispered. Lionblaze looked behind him to see Dovewing standing behind the bar, talking to some guys that were probably double her age.

"Yeah," Lionblaze said, getting up. "I'll be right back, I'm gonna go see what she's doing."

He walked up behind the guys, and was disgusted by what he heard.

"Yeah baby, come home with me," one of the greasy looking men said. "I'll pay you more then they'll ever pay you here."

"Yeah!" another one chimed in. "We'll show you a good time."

"Excuse me," Lionblaze snapped. The men turned around to look at him. "What?" one hissed.

"Don't you think you're being a little ... inappropriate?" Lionblaze asked. "Don't you know how old she is?"

"It's none of your fucking business," the bigger one of the men said. Then he turned back to Dovewing. "Come on, little girl, let's go."

Lionblaze grabbed the man by his shoulder and yanked him around to face him. "Oh I think it's my business," he snapped. "I'm her... boyfriend," he said at last. The man smirked. "Oh really. Why don't we step outside then and I'll prove to her I'm more worthy of her," he shoved Lionblaze, who stumbled backwards against a table.

"I'm calling security," Dovewing said, picking up her phone. The men seemed to back off at that.

"Watch your back," he hissed, then he walked away with his friends. Lionblaze turned to Dovewing. "Are you okay?" he whispered. Dovewing nodded her head sadly.

"Why don't you come sit with me and my friends?" Lionblaze offered. "You look like you could use a break."

Dovewing didn't say anything, just pulled off her apron and followed Lionblaze to his table.

"Hi!" Cloudtail said brightly when he saw Dovewing. Dovewing dejectedly waved at him.

"Sit beside me," Lionblaze held out a chair for her, trying to be friendly.

"So we were just talking about your charity," Hollyleaf said.

"I know," Dovewing said miserably. "I heard you."

Lionblaze widened his eyes in surprise.

_How had she heard? _Lionblaze thought.

_Our table is on the other side of the room. _

"So, have you collected much money?" Jayfeather asked, trying to be part of the conversation.

"Not really," Dovewing sighed. "No one really wants to help me."

"That's terrible," Hollyleaf said sympathetically.

"I know!" Dovewing cried. "I really need the money soon. There's a blind cat at the shelter. If no one adopts it by the end of the week their gonna put him in a gas chamber."

"WHAT?" Jayfeather yelped. "Can't they just put him down?"

"They say it's easier to just throw them all in a chamber," Dovewing started to cry as she spoke. "Then they don't have to waste needles."

Lionblaze exchanged a shocked look with his siblings and Cloudtail. Hollyleaf whipped out her wallet at once and pulled out a wad of bills. "How much do you need?" she asked.

"Wait, what are we paying for here?" Jayfeather asked. "We could just adopt it."

"He needs an operation," Dovewing said. "His last owners abused him, and now he has a broken leg."

Lionblaze burst into tears.

"Oh for gods sake," Hollyleaf snapped. "Lionblaze, we're obviously not going to let him die in a gas chamber."

"Really," Lionblaze sniffed.

"Yeah, he can live with us," Cloudtail offered. Lionblaze smiled through his tears. "Okay," he said.

**(Page break)**

Lionblaze drunkenly stumbled into the taxi, and spent a good twenty seconds fumbling with his seat belt. Dovewing stumbled in after him, and leaned her head on his shoulder.

"Dovewings coming home with us for the night," Jayfeather slurred from the front seat. Hollyleaf was sitting on his lap, smiling like a idiot. Cloudtail hadn't drank anything so he walked home, sober, unlike the rest. Lionblaze rested his head on top of Dovewings, and stroked her hair with his hands.

"That feels nice," she murmured.

"You're hair is soft," Lionblaze slurred. Then a thought occurred to him. He nudged her up to look at her.

"Are you a witch?" he blurted out. Dovewing broke out into a smile. "What?"

"You can hear things, things that I can't hear," Lionblaze stumbled over his words. "How can you do that?"

"I was born with it," Dovewing explained. "I can hear things that are far away."

"That's so ... COOL!" Lionblaze burst out. "I wish I could do that."

Dovewing giggled, then slumped out against the taxi door. Lionblaze looked at her, trying to remember who she reminded him of. She had pretty long silver hair, and bright blue eyes. And she was even skinnier then Hollyleaf, but Lionblaze figured that was just because of her age.

"How old are you?" Dovewing suddenly asked. Lionblaze tried to remember. "Nineteen," he said at last.

"I'm twenty!" Hollyleaf piped in from the front.

"I'm forty one," the taxi driver said.

"No one cares," Lionblaze snapped. Then he turned to Dovewing, about to say something else but Jayfeather cut him off.

"HA I'M OLDER THEN ALL OVER YOU!" he cackled. "I'M TWENTY!"

"Shut up you idiot," Hollyleaf snapped. "You're the exact same age as me."

"So you're actually fifteen?" Lionblaze said to Dovewing. "Truthfully, you look at lot older."

"Lot's of people say that," Dovewing sighed.

"When's your birthday?" Lionblaze asked.

"Tomorrow," Dovewing said. Lionblaze raised his eyebrows in surprise. "Really," he whispered. He looked down at his phone.

11:57 p.m.

"You'll be sixteen in a few minutes," Lionblaze said. Dovewing just smiled sadly. "It's not like anyone cares ," she said.

"I care," Lionblaze took her hand in hers. He looked down at his phone again.

12:00 p.m

"Happy birthday," Lionblaze smiled. Then he leaned over and kissed Dovewing. After a few seconds he broke away, and smiled at her.

Then he passed out. \


	9. Murder? No, Manslaughter

Lionblaze Stole the Stars

Chapter 9: Murder? No, Manslaughter

"I feel so gross!" Lionblaze howled. Hollyleaf snorted. "Maybe you shouldn't have drank four energy drinks in a row."

"That was probably a poor choice," Lionblaze agreed. "But they were just so good!"

"What's going on?" Jayfeather asked, walking into the room.

"Lionblaze overdosed on energy drinks," Hollyleaf explained.

"Ha," Jayfeather cackled.

"Shut up," Lionblaze whined. "Or I'll throw up on your shoes."

"Gross," Jayfeather snapped. "Anyways, I forgot to tell you that Dovewing called an hour ago when you were sleeping. She wants you to call her back, Lionblaze."

Lionblaze forgot his sickness instantly. "I'm gonna go call her right now!" he cried, running into the kitchen to get the phone. As soon as he was gone, Hollyleaf turned to her brother.

"What about Briarlight?" she whispered so Lionblaze wouldn't hear from the other room. "Has he forgotten about her?"

Jayfeather shrugged, looking uneasy. "I don't know," he said truthfully. "I've been meaning to ask him about that."

"Let's bring it up when he gets off the phone," Hollyleaf decided. Jayfeather nodded his agreement.

Lionblaze walked back into the living room about ten minutes later, a happy grin stretched across his face. "We're going drinking tonight," he said. "I'm so excited!"

"Can we come?" Hollyleaf asked, forgetting about Briarlight at once.

"No," Lionblaze waggled his eyebrows. "It's a date."

Jayfeather cleared his throat. "Um, Lionblaze, aren't you forgetting something?"

Lionblaze sniffed the air. "I need to wash this shirt. Thanks, Jayfeather."

"No!" Jayfeather cried. "I meant, aren't you forgetting about _Briarlight? _Your _girlfriend?" _

Lionblazes face fell. "Um, before we left we agreed to keep things casual," he explained.

"Casual?" Jayfeather scoffed. "What's that mean?"

"It means we can see other people," Lionblaze snapped. "Sorry I didn't tell you before."

"It's okay, Lionblaze," Hollyleaf said quickly, not wanting to make a scene. When Lionblazes face lost it's anger, Hollyleaf spoke again. "I've also been meaning to talk to you about Dovewing," she said slowly.

"What about her?" Lionblaze said defensively.

"Don't you think she's a little... young for you?"

"No," Lionblaze huffed. "It's only a three year difference."

"The only difference I see is that you're allowed to drink legally and she isn't," Jayfeather pointed out. "Don't you think it's a little inappropriate to be drinking with someone who's not actually allowed to drink?"

"It's fine, she has a fake ID," Lionblaze explained.

"That doesn't matter," Jayfeather sighed. "Face the facts, Lionblaze, she's too young."

"I don't have to hear this," Lionblaze snapped. "This conversation, is _over. _If you bring it up to me again then I'll ignore you."

Jayfeather opened his mouth to protest, but stopped when the doorbell rang.

"Oh crap I have to change my shirt!" Lionblaze cried, charging to the stairs. "Hollyleaf, can you get that?"

Hollyleaf sighed and walked over to the door. She opened it, and smiled at how cute Dovewing looked.

"Hi!" Dovewing said. "Can I come in?"

"Yeah," Hollyleaf replied, opening the door wider so she could come in.

"Hi, Jayfeather," Dovewing waved shyly.

"Hey," Jayfeather said.

"Oh don't you look cute!" Cloudtail suddenly walked into the room. Dovewing blushed and looked down. "Thanks," she mumbled.

"That's such a pretty dress! Hollyleaf, you should get some pointers from her," Cloudtail said.

"Jee, thanks," Hollyleaf snapped.

"No problem," Cloudtail replied, not detecting Hollyleafs sarcasm. Hollyleaf just rolled her eyes.

"Where's Lionblaze?" Dovewing asked.

"Changing his shirt," Jayfeather said. "Apparently his old one didn't smell very good."

Dovewing giggled.

* * *

><p>"Hey Jayfeather," Cloudtail said. Jayfeather looked up from where he was sitting on the couch.<p>

"Hi," he said. Cloudtail smiled suggestively at him. "Hollyleaf went to the store," he said. "You know what that means."

"I guess I do," Jayfeather started unbuttoning his shirt.

"What are you doing?" Cloudtail asked. Jayfeather stopped midbuttton. Cloudtail snorted and held up the box of fruit looks he was holding. "I meant since Hollyleafs gone, we could break into her fruit loops."

"Oh," Jayfeather was so embarrassed he wanted to cry. Cloudtail noticed. "Unless you want to do other stuff," he smiled, putting the box of fruit loops on the table.

"No. I officially wrecked the mood," Jayfeather mumbled.

"Oh come on!" Cloudtail whined.

"No," Jayfeather pulled a handful of fruit loops out of the box and stuffed them in his mouth. "We can watch a movie, that's an appropriate thing to do," Jayfeather suggested.

"What if I want to do inappropriate things instead?" Cloudtail said.

Jayfeather smiled. "Then you're gonna have to wait."

Cloudtail sighed and sat down on the couch next to Jayfeather.

* * *

><p>"Excuse me," Hollyleaf loudly cleared her throat. The guy stocking the shelves didn't reply.<p>

"Hey!" Hollyleaf shouted, making him nearly fall off his step stool. "What?" he snapped back.

"Where can I find some milk that's not expired?" Hollyleaf snapped. The guy rolled his eyes. "I'll have them pull some from the back," he said, then walked away. When Hollyleaf was waiting, she checked her phone. Three messages from Lionblaze, and one from... Tigerheart?

Hollyleaf looked at the Lionblaze ones first.

**1. Hey Hollyleaf! My dates going great! We're both on our first drink! **

**2. Heyeyyy Hollyyleaaaffffff we're havinggsge our fourthg driink**

**3. Hllyeaf. I thikn I mayyy be drunkk?. I wanstt cheese toastt **

Hollyleaf sighed and then looked at her message from Tigerheart.

**I see you! **

Alarmed, Hollyleaf looked up from her phone and looked around her. She spotted Tigerheart by the cereal isle. Their eyes met, and he smiled and waved. Hollyleaf waved back, using her other hand to fluff up her embarrassingly short hair. Tigerheart turned his cart around and walked towards her.

"Hey," Tigerheart smiled.

"Hello," Hollyleaf stammered, remembering how embarrassing it had been the last time she had seen him.

"How have you been doing?" Tigerheart asked.

"Pretty good," Hollyleaf said, wishing she had something else less boring to say.

"You're hair looks nice," Tigerheart pointed out.

"Thanks."

"Why'dyou cut it?"

"I had a problem with my straightening iron," Hollyleaf smiled sadly.

"Well, it looks nice. And hey, I've been meaning to ask you, are you busy on Friday?"

"Well, me and Lionblaze were gonna go to McCat," Hollyleaf said. Tigerheart just stared at her.

"But I can cancel," Hollyleaf said quickly. "Did you want to do something?"

"Yeah, I was wondering if you would like to come over for dinner," Tigerheart said. "My grandfather is coming over, and I haven't seen him in like, _forever, _so it's a pretty big thing."

"Oh really? Who's your grandfather?" Hollyleaf asked.

"His name is Tigerstar."

"Okay. Why haven't you seen him recently? Does he live far away?" Hollyleaf said.

"No. He just got out of jail," Tigerheart said flatly.

"Oh," Hollyleaf said, not sure what to say. "For what? Murder?" she joked.

"No. Manslaughter," Tigerheart said. Hollyleaf stared blankly at him.

"I wish I could say I was joking but im not," Tigerheart said flatly.

"Well, id love to come over," Hollyleaf smiled.

"Great," Tigerheart said. "I'll pick you up at six on Friday."


	10. Less Than 3 is Just a Tease

Lionblaze Stole the Stars

Chapter 10: Less Then 3 is Just a Tease

Hollyleaf awkwardly picked at her food, glancing up at Tigerheart to see if he noticed the way Tigerstar was glaring at her. He didn't. Hollyleaf sighed and shoved another fork full of roast beef into her mouth.

"There's a dog in my soup!" Tigerstar suddenly bellowed. Hollyleaf jumped in surprise.

"Don't be weird," Flametail, Tigerhearts brother, snapped. Tigerstar grumbled something inaudible and packed even more roast beef into his already full mouth.

"We're not eating soup," Tigerheart said flatly.

"I'm aware," Tigerstar growled. Tigerheart sighed and decided not to say anything.

**Meanwhile**

"Less then three is just a tease!" Lionblaze shrieked out the window.

"Will you stop that?" Jayfeather snapped. "It sounds really suggestive."

"No it doesn't," Lionblaze said defensively.

"Where did you hear that, anyway?" Jayfeather asked.

"It's from a song I heard off Cloudtails ipod," Lionblaze explained. "Id sing the rest for you but I think that would be inappropriate."

"I can imagine," Jayfeather sighed. "Anyways, I've been meaning to ask you, what are you getting Hollyleaf for her birthday? It's tomorrow."

"I was gonna put a bow on my head and jump out of a cake," Lionblaze grinned.

"That's the stupidest thing I've ever heard in my entire life," Jayfeather said. "What use is that gonna be?"

"I dunno. I just want to see the look on her face."

"I don't know what to get her," Jayfeather sighed. "She already like, has everything."

"Get Cloudtail to pole dance for her."

"What? No," Jayfeather turned bright red. "That would be ... really weird."

"How old is she turning, anyway?" Lionblaze asked, looking not even slightly embarrassed that he had forgotten how old his own sister was.

"She'll be twenty one," Jayfeather replied.

"Oh okay, that's what I thought," Lionblaze lied. "How about we throw her a surprise party?"

"We party all the time," Jayfeather grumbled.

"I know," Lionblaze said happily. "But this could be _different! _We can make it the biggest fucking party we've ever had!"

"That would be a good idea if we had any friends here," Jayfeather pointed out. "In case you've forgotten, we live in New York now, not friking Calgary where we knew everyone."

"I'll take care of the people," Lionblaze grinned.

"Okay... what can I do?"

"I'll make you a list," Lionblaze said, scribbling down something on a piece of paper. When he was done, he thrust it at Jayfeather. Jayfeather didn't even bother reading it, he just shoved it in his pocket. "You better get at least twenty people to come," Jayfeather said. "And fast. The party's tomorrow night and it's already six in the evening right now."

"I'm on it," Lionblaze said, voice serious and businesslike as he picked up the phone. Jayfeather sighed and left the room, wondering just how the heck they were gonna be able to pull this off before tomorrow without Hollyleaf finding out.

**(Page Break)**

Jayfeather looked down at the list Lionblaze had given him and inwardly groaned. His writing was so messy it was barely readable. Jayfeather squinted his eyes and after a solid four minutes, he was able to read the list.

1. Alcohol, and lots of it.

2. Cigarettes!

3. Cake (not some shitty one from Safeway. No one likes those.)

4. Lots of munchies :3

5. If you randomly see someone you know while buying these items, ask them to come to le party.

_Okay, _Jayfeather thought to himself. _Might as well get this over with_. He walked into the nearest gas station he could see, which was Chevron. He grabbed six bags of every kind of chips and brought them up to the counter. The guy working looked at him disapprovingly.

"I'll also need two cartons of Export A Golds," Jayfeather snapped, not caring that the guy looked very annoyed at him already. "And one pack of Canadian Classics."

"Okay," the guy hissed, pulling out the requested cigarettes and placing them next to the chips. "That'll be 256.53$ please."

"I'll use my debit card," Jayfeather said, wondering just how it was possible to spend that much money on chips and smokes.

"You having a party?" a voice behind Jayfeather said. Jayfeather turned around to see who was talking to him and nearly died.

The most beautiful human being Jayfeather had ever seen stood before him.

"Uh, yeah," Jayfeather stammered, racing to punch in his pin number into the machine at the same time. "It's my sisters birthday."

"Ah I see," the boy smiled, then he lowered his voice so the cashier guy wouldn't hear him. "Would I be able to bum a smoke off you?" he whispered.

"Uh, sure," Jayfeather said, mentally kicking himself for sounding so eager. "But only if you help carry this stuff out to my car."

The boy smiled his agreement and picked up half of Jayfeathers bags. When they got out to the car, the boy whistled, impressed. "This is your car?" he asked.

"Nah, it's my sisters. Lionblaze and I just borrow it, since we don't have a car." _Or jobs, _Jayfeather thought to himself. He was glad Hollyleaf made enough money for the three of them, and Cloudtail (being rich and all) helped quite a bit too.

"Interesting," the boy murmured. "Can we smoke in it?"

"Yeah," Jayfeather replied. "Hollyleaf tells us not to but in the end it's pointless cause she smokes in here all the time."

"I see," the boy said. "My name is Scourge, by the way."

_Scourge._

_What an ... interesting name, _Jayfeather thought, not to sure what to think of it. "And I take it you're not old enough to buy smokes then, are you Scourge?" Jayfeather grinned. "Or else you would have bought a pack in the store."

"Yeap," Scourge sighed as he lit the smoke Jayfeather gave him. "But I'm pretty damn close though. I'm eighteen."

"Eighteen is pretty darned close to the age limit," Jayfeather pointed out.

"I know, I know."

They sat in silence for several minutes before Jayfeather spoke again. "What are you doing tomorrow night?" he asked.

"Nothing," Scourge said, a little sadly. "Why?"

"You should come to my sisters party," Jayfeather offered.

"That would be great," Scourge smiled kindly at him.

Jayfeather felt his heart start to beat faster in anxiety.

_I just invited someone very attractive who is not Cloudtail to come drink with me, _Jayfeather thought to himself, feeling slightly queasy.

_I've done nothing wrong, so why do I feel so sick?_


	11. Nothing to Hide Here

Lionblaze Stole the Stars

Chapter 11: Nothing to Hide Here

_What the fucking fuck is taking Jayfeather so long?! _Lionblaze thought to himself, chain smoking his third cigarette on the couch. He tapped his foot impatiently, and looked to his wrist to check the time. It was pointless because he didn't have a watch on. Lionblaze sighed and butted the smoke on a dirty plate that was sitting on the coffee table. An hour ago, Lionblaze had sent Jayfeather off with the simple task of buying alcohol, cake, and smokes. Lionblaze had told Hollyleaf to go to the supermarket to pick up a carton of 17 eggs. Lionblaze grinned at his cleverness. _She'll be looking for hours, _he thought mischievously. _They only sell eggs in cartons of 18! _

Lionblaze jumped as the door banged open, and he turned around. "HOLLYLEAF IF THAT'S YOU, CAN YOU GO GET -"

"Calm your shit," Jayfeather snapped, walking into the living room. "It's just me."

"Oh. I knew that," Lionblaze huffed.

"Bullshit. I got everything on the list, by the way."

"Even the cake?" Lionblaze asked, leaning forward with his eyebrows raised.

"Of course I bought the goddamn cake!"

"You didn't buy it from Safeway, did you," Lionblaze asked, concerned. "No one likes those."

"Yeah, I know. You wrote it on the list," Jayfeather said as he walked into the kitchen to put the cake in the fridge. "Where did Hollyleaf go, anyway?"

"I sent her to the supermarket," Lionblaze explained. "And don't put the cake in the fridge, Hollyleaf will see it!"

"Well where am I supposed to put it?" Jayfeather cried. "If it's not refrigerated it'll get all moldy!"

"WELL I DON'T KNOW, WHY DON'T YOU PUT IT IN THE FREEZER DOWNSTAIRS?"

"Why are you shouting..."

"BECAUSE I CAN AND-" Lionblaze stopped screaming mid word as he heard the door open again. "Oh fuck," Lionblaze hissed, picking up the cake and shoving it in Jayfeathers arms. "It's Hollyleaf."

"Well, what am I supposed to do with all this stuff?" Jayfeather whisper/shrieked, looking over at the numerous bags of chips, smokes and alcohol.

"Go out the back door," Lionblaze whispered, pointing to the living room. "I'll distract her."

"What are people gonna think when they see me with all this?" Jayfeather cried.

"_Go!" _Lionblaze piled the bags on top of the boxed cake and pushed Jayfeather out the door, the second Hollyleaf walked in.

"HOLLYLEAF!" Lionblaze bellowed. "DID YOU GET THE 17 EGGS?"

"They came in cartons of 18 or 12," Hollyleaf said, looking at him with a confused expression on her face. "So I got the 18."

"I wanted 17," Lionblaze shook his head sadly. "You're gonna have to make another trip to the store."

Hollyleaf stared at him. "Are you retarded?" she said as she rolled her eyes. "I just said the don't come in cartons of 17."

"Did you ask Paul?"

"Paul?"

"The butcher," Lionblaze said, making shit up on the spot.

"No, Lionblaze. No I did not ask the _butcher _where the eggs are."

"You should of," Lionblaze retorted.

"You're dumb," Hollyleaf said, placing the eggs in the fridge. "Where's Jayfeather?"

"Jayfeather?" Lionblaze stalled. Hollyleaf sighed in exasperation. "Are you stoned?"

"No," Lionblaze replied.

"Then what the fuck is wrong with you?"

"I don't know. Maybe I should go get some fresh air," Lionblaze said, grateful for an excuse to go outside.

"You do that. I'll start dinner," Hollyleaf called after him.

_..._

Jayfeather sat on his back steps, cake on his lap and many bottles of alcohol beside him. He had a bag entirely full of cartons of smokes on his other side. He lit one up and looked around. A family of four was walking by, giving him the most disgusted of glares.

"How you doin," Jayfeather smiled, waving his cigarette. The family looked away at once and continued walking. Jayfeather was just about to take another drag, when the back door opened. Jayfeather shrieked, expecting to see Hollyleaf.

"You sound like a girl when you scream," Lionblaze giggled as he shut the door.

"Shut up," Jayfeather sighed. "I thought you were Hollyleaf."

"Well, I'm not. She's inside cooking dinner, which means we have approximately ten minutes before she burns everything and sets the fire alarm off."

"We should move this stuff then," Jayfeather grunted, picking himself up off the steps. Lionblaze took the bags and they walked around the house, sneaking in the side door. They walked to the basement, and Jayfeather gently set the cake inside the freezer. Lionblaze took the bags he was holding and stuffed them into the storage cupboard, mashing the chips to make room.

"Don't break them all," Jayfeather grumbled. "No one wants to eat a bag full of crumbs."

"I do," Lionblaze said.

"Well you're an idiot."

Lionblaze giggled and didn't reply. They walked back upstairs, and Lionblaze could already smell burnt food.

"Hollyleaf, what did you make?" Lionblaze asked as he walked into the smoky kitchen. He waved his hands around in a failed attempt to clear the air.

"I made salmon casserole," Hollyleaf said sadly, holding up a dish of scorched black salmon. "Well, I tried to."

"I hate salmon," Jayfeather snapped. "I tell you that every fucking time you make it."

"Well maybe you should make dinner from now on then," Hollyleaf growled. "And where were you?"

"Outside, having a smoke," Jayfeather said, face turning red from lying.

"Why didn't you just have a smoke in here?" Hollyleaf asked.

"Uh, I don't know."

Hollyleaf gave them a look from narrowed eye. "You're both acting weird," she said slowly. "What's going on?"

"Nothing! I was just having a smoke!" Jayfeather cried.

"I don't believe you."

"He's lying!" Lionblaze suddenly exploded. Jayfeather turned and stared at him.

"He was outside, yes," Lionblaze said with a completely straight face. "But he was masturbating."

"WHAT THE FUCK!" Jayfeather screamed. He grabbed Lionblaze by the collar of his shirt and dragged him out of the kitchen. He tried to ignore Hollyleafs shrieks of laughter.

"What the fuck!" Jayfeather screamed at Lionblaze the second they got into the living room. "Would you care to explain why you said that?"

"Hollyleaf was catching on," Lionblaze mumbled. "I had to throw her off the trail again."

"By saying I was _masturbating _on the back porch?" Jayfeather cried.

"It was the first thing that came into my head," Lionblaze said defensively.

"Jeez, Lionblaze," Jayfeather shook his head and rolled his eyes. "You're useless. I'm going to go in there and tell Hollyleaf that you're full of shit."

"Can you grab me some salmon casserole?" Lionblaze called after him.

Jayfeather slammed the door and didn't respond.


	12. Dirt and Flowers

Lionblaze Stole the Stars

Chapter 12: Dirt and Flowers

"I got us all a round!" Lionblaze said in a voice much louder than necessary. "TEQUILA FOR EVERYONE!"

"Thanks, Lionblaze," Hollyleaf smiled a toothy smile, red cheeks and blurry eyes indicating that she'd already had quite a few rounds already. Lionblaze set down the tray with the three shot glasses on the table, looking quite proud that he didn't spill any.

"So, Dovewing doesn't mind tending the bar?" Jayfeather asked, looking behind him to watch Dovewing awkwardly pour a large bottle of vodka into a tiny shot glass. It spilled over the top, but the person picked it up and drank it anyway. Jayfeather rolled his eyes as he realized it was Firestar, with no shirt on and a pair of pants that had one of the legs cut off.

"This is the best surprise party ever!" Hollyleaf slurred, swaying slightly in her seat. "I can't believe you'd all go through all this trouble just for me."

"Well, it wasn't much of a surprise," Jayfeather said. "You figured it out before anyone even showed up."

"That's because all your excuses were totally dumb," Hollyleaf giggled. "So freaking stupid!"

"Well, we tried," Jayfeather said, turning to look at his brother. "We tried, right Lionblaze?"

Lionblaze didn't respond, and Jayfeather was disgusted to find that he had someone acquired a sausage and egg sandwich from A&W.

"Where the hell did you get that?" Jayfeather asked. Lionblaze shrieked and hid the sandwich behind his back.

"YOU CAN'T HAVE IT!" He bellowed, stuffing half of it in his mouth. "IT'S MINE!"

"I didn't… want it," Jayfeathers voice trailed off as Lionblaze streaked into the crowd, clutching the sandwich so hard it looked like he was strangling it.

"He's such a fucking goof," Hollyleaf laughed, fumbling around in her purse in search for a lighter. Jayfeather watched her aimlessly throw lipsticks and receipts out in attempts to find it before handing her his.

"Don't steal it, it's my only one," Jayfeather instructed. Hollyleaf nodded her head one too many times before lighting her cigarette.

"Why aren't you drinking?" Hollyleaf asked after she had finally lit the smoke. "You've been sipping on that one beer all night, don't think I haven't noticed."

"Um, I'm just waiting for Cloudtail to show up," Jayfeather mumbled awkwardly. He felt his face turn red as he lied, wondering why he couldn't stop thinking about the boy he had met at the gas station a couple days ago.

_Scourge_

Even the name sent shivers down Jayfeathers spine. He felt a sickening rush of guilt. _What am I doing, thinking this way? I'm in a happy relationship… the last thing I need to fuck it up by thinking of someone else. _Jayfeather sat still, clutching his half empty lukewarm Budweiser, and tried to think of something else. It took all of two seconds for Scourge to push his was back into Jayfeathers mind, and he groaned.

_Fuck_

_Fuck fuck fuck_

"Jayfeather, drink this," Hollyleaf broke his thoughts as she thrust one of the three tequila shots into his face. "It'll make you feel better."

Jayfeather didn't know how anything could possibly help his hideous guilt and anxiety. _Not to mention tequila fucks me right up._

"DO IT!" Hollyleaf screamed, poking him in the nose with the glass. A drop of the poisonous alcohol burned Jayfeathers nose, and he found himself reluctantly wanting it.

"Fine," he said. He squeezed his eyes shut and downed the glass, smiling as the fiery burn of alcohol run through his body. He looked up after, and was distracted by something in the corner of his eye. He turned his head to see Lionblaze and Firestar dancing in the center of the kitchen, music blasting way to loud. Both of them were waving their socks around as they hollered and danced in a pathetic circle.

_I'm not nearly drunk enough for this. _

Jayfeather grabbed the second shot and downed it too, this one slightly harder to swallow. He sucked on the lime that was wedged in the side of the glass and looked up. Lionblaze and Firestar had stopped dancing, and were looking up at the ceiling. Jayfeather followed their gaze, and sighed as he realized they had both thrown their socks in the air. This resulted in them hitting the ceiling fan, making it sputter and spit out of control. The socks were then catapulted across the room, landing on top of the toaster.

By this time the alcohol had started to burn through Jayfeather, and he found himself laughing involuntarily.

* * *

><p><em>I'm so <em>

_I'm so fucking drunk_

_I'm so damn, drunk…_

Jayfeather stumbled into someone he didn't recognize, and he apologized feebly with a giant grin on his face. The person glared at him and didn't respond. Jayfeather shrugged and rolled his eyes. He was acutely aware of how intoxicated he was, but it didn't matter anymore.

"HOLLYLEAF!" Jayfeather called as he spotted his sister. He made his way over to her, feeling his drink sloshing over top of the cup as he moved.

"Hi, Jayfeather!" Hollyleaf smiled, her red face indicating that she'd drank too much. "Have you like, seen Lionblaze anywhere?"

"No," Jayfeather shook his head one too many times. "No, I haven't seen him in a while."

Hollyleaf waited for Jayfeather to finish, but it was apparent he had forgotten what he had called her over for.

"What?" Hollyleaf slurred, giggling for no reason. It took Jayfeather a minute to remember, and then he felt awkward.

"Uh, have you seen Cloudtail?" He asked, sloshing his drink around without looking at her.

_I was going to ask her if she had seen Scourge. But even Hollyleaf would know that would be weird, even if she's drunk._

_Ugh. I wish he'd just fucking show up already._

"I haven't seen him at all," Hollyleaf replied, looking confused. She looked at Jayfeather, clearly puzzled. "Wait, you guys aren't like, broken up, right?"

"No," Jayfeather mumbled, pushing past her. _I knew she'd be useless. Why did I even come over here?_

"Where are you going?" Hollyleaf called as Jayfeather walked away. Jayfeather didn't respond, just held up his cigarette he was holding as an indication of what he was doing.

"Just smoke in here!" Hollyleaf screamed after him. Jayfeather continued walking, pretending he hadn't heard her.

By now, Jayfeather was starting to feel very stressed. He looked at his phone.

_No messages or calls._

_Is Cloudtail mad at me? Did he somehow read me thoughts and knows about Scourge?_

Jayfeather was so lost in thought he stumbled into a table with a plant on it. He tried to catch it but failed, dirt and flowers spilled everywhere.

"Fuck!" Jayfeather swore. He stared at the plant, and then shrugged. _Way too much effort to pick that up. _He stepped over it and forgot about it almost instantly. He could hear shrieks coming from the living room, and by the sound of it, Lionblaze was the one making most of the racket. He walked back in the living room, and rolled his eyes at once.

Lionblaze was jumping up and down on the couch, screaming and throwing pillows around.

"Lionblaze, get down from there," Jayfeather slurred. "You're gonna break it!"

"NO I'M NOT, NO I'M NOT!" Lionblaze bellowed. Two seconds later there was a crack and Lionblaze stumbled to the ground as the couch broke.

"For god's sake!" Jayfeather cried. He grabbed his brother by the arm and dragged him to his feet. "Alright, you are officially cut off. If you want something to drink you can have w_ater."_

"NO!" Lionblaze cried out. "No, seriously Jayfeather. I'm fine. I'm not even drunk and-"

He passed out in the middle of his sentence. Jayfeather pulled a blanket over him, not bothering to move him up from the floor. A noise suddenly distracted him, and Jayfeather looked up.

The door to his house had opened, and Jayfeather felt his heart drop painfully.

It was Scourge.

"Oh my god, oh my god my hair looks terrible," Jayfeather whispered. He looked over at the window, staring at his reflection. He used his fingers to awkwardly comb his hair, feeling so self-conscious he could barely move.

_I swear, this guy is going to be the death of me._


	13. But We Match

Lionblaze Stole the Stars

Chapter 13: But We Match

a/n: Attention! I did not write this chapter. I received this as a review from some VERY talented writer. You didn't give your name, but i give you full credit. If you're reading this, you know who you are. After reading this i honestly can't create my own chapter 13 anymore... because this is so perfect!

* * *

><p>Jayfeather fingered through his hair as a voice called him. "Hey, Jayfeather!" he recognized Scourge.<p>

Jayfeather spun around, awkwardly shuffling his feet. "Uh... hi, Scourge. Nice shirt." Scourge was wearing a bright blue shirt and black jeans that complimented his blue eyes and black hair perfectly.

Scourge tilted his head when he spotted Lionblaze. "That your brother?"

Jayfeather stared dumbly at Scourge. He had blue eyes. Jayfeather did, too. He was small. Jayfeather was, too. He had pale skin. Jayfeather did, too. Jayfeather smiled blurrily... /We match/ he thought.

Scourge blinked at him. "His name's Lionblaze, right?"

Jayfeather nodded weakly. Lionblaze rolled over and snored. Just then Hollyleaf burst into the living room, staggering in a very undirect way towards Jayfeather, "Hey Lionblaze!" she screamed. "Firestar's looking for you!" Her eyes caught Lionblaze on the floor. "BRO!" she hollered. "NOOO! DON'T DIE!"

Jayfeather swayed a little bit as Hollyleaf came crashing across the living room, shoving people aside. "LIONBLAZE?!" she was screaming. "Jayfeather, DO SOMETHING! WHAT THE FUCK IS WRONG WITH YOU OUR BROTHER IS FUCKING DEAD ON THE FLOOR!"

Jayfeather fingered through his hair. "He passed out!" he called to Hollyleaf. He tried to put together something sophisticated to say to impress Scourge, but his fuzzy mind couldn't quite come up with the words. "He... umm... he's asleep?"

Scourge turned around and saw Hollyleaf. She crashed into him and blushed. "Er... hi," she said, then launched herself at Lionblaze. She narrowed her eyes and inspected him closely. "Yup, he's asleep," she announced. She turned around and threw her hands in the air. "NOBODY PANIC!" she called. "LIONBLAZE IS ONLY ASLEEP!"

Jayfeather blushed, embarrassed by Hollyleaf. He wondered how many shots of tequila she'd had.

Scourge walked over to Hollyleaf. "Hey," he said. "Wanna dance?"

Hollyleaf turned around and caught Scourge's eye. "Uh, sure!" she giggled. She bounced up and down, totally off key with the rhythm of music pulsing through the house. She kicked up one of her legs and tripped on the couch, crashing to the floor. Scourge helped her up.

"Why don't we dance over there?" he asked, pointing towards the middle of the room where Firestar and a few other friends were dancing absurdly. Scourge held Hollyleaf's hand and went towards the middle of the room. Jayfeather watched him, stunned. /Whaaat?/ he thought. /WHAATATAT? I invited him to the party... he should be dancing with ME./ Briefly Jayfeather thought that maybe he should be glad about Scourge apparently having no interest in Jayfeather, but his cheeks burned and he swayed over to Scourge and Hollyleaf.

"May I join?" he asked, but he was already shuffling his feet in what he remembered to be the steps to some sort of stupid dance in some stupid movie. Just then Scourge did a back flip.

Hollyleaf clapped her hands excitedly and hugged Scourge when he landed. "Whee!" she giggled, clutching him. "Again! Again!"

Scourge grinned. "Naah," he said, wrapping his arms around her. "Not when you're so attached to me."

Jayfeather stopped doing his ridiculous shuffle and looked at Scourge, looking so beautiful in the uneven party light. "But... we match..." he whispered, tears almost welling in his eyes. He turned around, not even sure if his sister or Scourge had heard him, and pushed through Firestar's group towards Dovewing who was still pouring drinks.

"Gimme a shot or two of somethin'," he snapped at her. Dovewing eyed him carefully, knowing he was upset about something. She poured him a glass of very strong alcoholic whiskey as Jayfeather took out a cigarette.

"Careful," she warned. "Alcohol- highly flammable."

Jayfeather scowled. "I don't give two shits," he said, taking out his lighter as he pulled the slopping glass toward him. He flicked on the lighter and attempted to light his cigarette, but his vision was blurry.

Just then the door opened and Cloudtail stepped into the house. Jayfeather looked at him, not sure how to feel about his boyfriend's appearance. He waved the lit lighter...

Dovewing screamed. Jayfeather, in his random lighter waving, caught his alcohol-sopped shirt on fire. Jayfeather passed out, the heat of the flames tickling his consciousness, and landed with a heavy burning thud off his chair on the floor.


	14. Be Cautious

Lionblaze Stole the Stars

Chapter 14: Be Cautious

Jayfeather screamed as he fell to his knees, patting his shirt in an attempt to put of the small flame that had risen from it.

"WHAT THE FUCK!" Jayfeather swore, his voice getting all high pitched from shock. He patted it a few more times, and breathed a sigh of relief when it went out.

"I told you," Dovewing was mumbling, shaking her head. Jayfeather ignored her and felt his face go red as he noticed everyone was staring at him.

"Um, I'm good," he said at last when no one said anything.

"HANG IN THERE BUDDY, I GOT IT!"

Jayfeather looked to his right to see Firestar running towards him, tripping over a bottle on the floor in the process. He stumbled a bit but caught himself, and continued to run at Jayfeather.

"THE FIRE WILL GO OUT. JAYFEATHER, HANG IN THERE!"

"Um, it's out…" Jayfeather started to say, but was cut off as Firestar started dumping a big jug of orange juice on him.

"That's really not helpful," Jayfeather snapped, shoving him away. Firestar drunkenly looked at him for a minute, squinting his eyes.

"I saved your life, man," he said. "BE GRATEFUL!" and with that, he sauntered away, taking a big swig out of the jug. Jayfeather rolled his eyes as he realized it was completely empty.

By now, everyone had assumed Jayfeather was fine, because the music was back on full blast. Jayfeather was dimly aware of his brother on the other side of the room, jumping up and down on a big couch cushion that had been removed from the couch. Beside him, Firestar was spraying silly string on the wall.

Jayfeather sighed.

"Hey, are you okay?" Scourges voice sounded behind him, and Jayfeather jumped in surprise. He looked over at Scourge, feeling even more embarrassed as he saw the concerned look on his face.

"Yeah," Jayfeather replied, not meeting his eyes. He scratched the back of his neck, feeling extremely awkward. "I like to light myself on fire in my spare time."

Scourge grinned at his joke, and Jayfeather felt a notch more at ease. _Good, it doesn't look as though he thinks I'm a giant dweeb._

"You're covered in orange juice and whiskey," Scourge pointed out, amused.

"Really?" Jayfeather looked down at himself, pretending to look confused. "I hadn't noticed."

Scourge smiled again, and Jayfeather felt his heart beat even faster than it was already going. Then a thought hit him, and his heart burned with a dreadful anxiety.

_Where's Cloudtail_

_What the fuck am I doing_

_I can't flirt with Scourge!_

He looked around, hoping he wasn't close by. _If he saw the look on my face, he'll know, _Jayfeather thought in panic. _It's the same face I used to give to him!_

"Hey, Jayfeather."

Jayfeather whipped around, suddenly face to face with Cloudtail himself. His face drained of blood as he looked at the expression on his face.

"Aren't you going to introduce me to your friend?" Cloudtail said quietly, almost under his breath. He was holding his glass with clenched fingers, and his eyes were too bright. Jayfeather felt as though he was going to die right on the spot. He weakly turned to Scourge, then back to Cloudtail.

"This is Scourge," He said, voice cracking twice.

"Hi," Scourge said kindly, completely unaware of the unspoken problem that was unfolding in front of them. "Nice to meet you. Are you a friend of Jayfeathers?"

"Actually, I'm his ex-boyfriend," Cloudtail said brightly. He turned back to Jayfeather, smiling a fake smile. "Great party, by the way. But I think I'm going to leave now."

"Bye," was all Jayfeather could muster. He watched in agony as Cloudtail walked out of his house, not once looking back. Tears clouded his vision and he looked down at his phone, pretending to do something so Scourge wouldn't notice. His hands shook violently, and he could hardly breathe.

_He saw me _

_He saw how red my face was_

_He broke up with me…_

"Hey, what's wrong?" Scourge asked suddenly, placing a hand on Jayfeathers shoulder. His touch felt like a burn.

"I'm fine," Jayfeather whispered, still staring down at the lock screen on his phone. To his surprise, it vibrated.

**Txt from: Cloudtail**

Jayfeather took in a sharp breath, terrified to even read the thing. He took a couple deep breaths before forcing himself to click the open button.

**I saw how you looked at him. I know you like him.**

Jayfeather replied as quickly as he could, **I didn't look at him any different than anyone else. We were just hanging out. I met him at a gas station the other day and then he just showed up at my party.**

After he sent the message, he waited impatiently for Cloudtail to respond. After thirty seconds ticked by, Jayfeather knew that he was ignoring him.

"Is there something going on?" Scourge asked, speaking slowly. "You look really shaken up. And you're paler than a ghost!"

"Cloudtail just startled me, that's all," Jayfeather mumbled. He took another glance at his phone. No reply.

"It's hard seeing ex's," Scourge nodded, understanding. "Whenever I see mine, it throws me off too. I know how you feel."

Jayfeather opened his mouth to reply but abruptly stopped when his phone vibrated in his hand. It was a message from Cloudtail.

**I'm not stupid**

Jayfeather felt so bad for hurting him, he wanted to cry. _Why do I even exist? I'm a terrible person_

His depressing thoughts broke as his phone vibrated again. Confused, he looked down. _Cloudtail again?_

**Scourge is not what he seems. Be cautious **

Now Jayfeather was more confused than ever. He looked up at Scourge, who was chatting with Dovewing. He noticed Jayfeather looking at him, and he stopped talking to flash him a big smile. Jayfeather smiled back, looking into his dark eyes. He looked trustworthy enough.

_Why did Cloudtail say that?_

* * *

><p>"WHERE IS JAYFEATHER?" Lionblaze cried out, jumping around in a frenzy. "I HAVEN'T SEEN HIM ALL NIGHT!"<p>

"Calm down," Hollyleaf giggled, swaying slightly. "He's over by Dovewing and Scourge."

"THAT LITTLE RASCAL," Lionblaze bellowed. He started jumping up and down on the pillow again.

"Dude, it's four in the morning," Hollyleaf said suddenly, looking down at her phone. "We should probably end the party soon."

"WE PARTY UNTIL WE CAN NO LONGER PARTY!" Lionblaze hollered. He jumped off the pillow and fell over. Hollyleaf giggled drunkenly as he shut his eyes and fell asleep instantly. Hollyleaf looked out the window, noticing how it was starting to get brighter. She sat down on the couch with one cushion, curling up into a ball. She was almost asleep when her phone dinged.

**Txt from: Scourge**

Hollyleaf opened it, forcing herself to stay awake to read it.

**Great party. Next time let's hang out just you and me ;)**

She passed out before she could reply.


	15. Cupcakes

Lionblaze Stole the Stars

Chapter 15: Cupcakes

"Do you know a guy named Scourge?" Hollyleaf asked, taking a sip of her soup. Tigerheart shot her a weird glance. "You're not talking about the guy Flametail used to hang with, are you?"

Hollyleaf thought back to the uncomfortable dinner she had had with Tigerhearts family, remembering Flametail clearly. She was silent; not knowing who Flametail was friends with. She wondered why Tigerheart would assume she would know the answer to that.

"Flametail used to be friends with Scourge," Tigerheart explained. "It was all fine, until Scourge stole my brother's girlfriend."

"That's not very nice," Hollyleaf said, confused. She thought back to the other night, when Jayfeather and Cloudtail broke up because of him. She also thought about the text Scourge had sent her minutes later, saying that they should hang out alone.

"My brother brought him to my party the other night," Hollyleaf said, after she noticed Tigerheart was waiting for an explanation on how she knew him. "I thought he was, um… gay."

"He flies both ways," Tigerheart grumbled, slurping his soup out of the bowl. "Let's talk about something else, okay? The guy's a dirt bag. I don't even want to think of him."

"Okay," Hollyleaf shrugged. She moved her spoon around in her bowl, realizing her appetite had disappeared. Talking about Scourge made her feel weird.

* * *

><p>"Jayfeather," Lionblaze called from behind the closed door. "I made you some lunch. Can I come in?"<p>

Jayfeather sighed, staring at the ceiling. His mind and body felt numb, and he didn't ever want to get out of bed again. It had been nearly a week since his breakup with Cloudtail, and it was sucking the life out of him.

_If my heart could stop feeling like it was stabbed, that'd be great, _Jayfeather thought miserably. _When is this pain supposed to end? In time? Well how much fucking time do you need, heart? I'm sick and tired of feeling like-_

"JAYFEATHER!" Lionblaze bellowed at the top of his lungs. He banged on the door, and Jayfeather jumped when he heard a smash on the floor. He looked over, and rolled his eyes when he saw a pool of milk spread under his door.

"Jayfeather," Lionblaze said again. His voice sounded so sad and miserable Jayfeather felt bad for him. "Jayfeather, I've already dropped the glass of milk. That was the last of what was in the jug."

"Fine, come in," Jayfeather said at last. Within seconds, the door banged open. Lionblaze walked towards him, splashing through the milk in the process. In his hands he held a plate that contained a cheese sandwich, three slices of cucumber, and a cupcake that Jayfeather knew for a fact was in Lionblazes room for a week prior.

"I made it myself," Lionblaze said proudly, thrusting it towards him. Jayfeather took it and forced himself to take a bite of one of the cucumbers.

"Are you feeling any better?" Lionblaze asked.

"Not really," Jayfeather mumbled. "My heart hurts."

"I wish it would stop," Lionblaze replied. "You're sad all the time. It's making me sad all the time too."

"Go hang out with Hollyleaf then," Jayfeather suggested.

"She's been at Tigerhearts, like all day," Lionblaze sighed loudly. "Which is incredibly rude, considering she told me earlier that she would take me out for hamburgers."

"It's only four," Jayfeather started. "She'll probably take you out later-"

"I WANT THEM RIGHT NOW," Lionblaze said three times as loudly as necessary. He grabbed the cupcake that was on Jayfeathers plate and stuffed the entire thing in his mouth.

"You're disgusting," Jayfeather shook his head. But his insides felt a little lighter, and he was glad Lionblaze was with him. _It numbs this feeling I can't get rid of… well, at least for a little bit._

"Why don't you just like, call Cloudtail?" Lionblaze asked suddenly, talking with his mouth full of food.

"Are you crazy?" Jayfeather burst out, as if calling someone was the most ridiculous thing in the world to do.

"Well, you obviously want to talk to him," Lionblaze shrugged, not understanding why this would be socially unacceptable. "Just take out your cell phone, dial his number, and problem solved."

"It's more… complicated than that," Jayfeather said slowly, not sure how to describe it to his brother. _He'll never get it. The guy has no care in the world._

"Since we broke up, I'm worried he'll be angry when I call," Jayfeather said at last, hoping that if he spoke slowly enough, Lionblaze would understand. "I think that he'll get mad and be rude I guess. I don't know, it's hard to explain."

"Want me to do it?" Lionblaze offered, leaning over and snatching Jayfeathers phone from beside him. Jayfeather almost had a heart attack. "GIVE IT BACK!" he screamed, knocking the plate onto the floor. He lunged for Lionblaze, but he was faster. Lionblaze grinned as he stepped back, phone to his ear.

"It's ringing," he winked.

Jayfeather felt like he was going to puke. He tried to grab it again, but Lionblaze's height advantage won.

"Hi, Cloudtail?" Lionblaze said into the phone. Jayfeather felt a tinny bell ring in his mind, so high pitched it felt like there was a dog whistle in his ears. He watched helplessly as Lionblaze continued to talk to Cloudtail.

"This is Jayfeather," Lionblaze said, giggling and making his voice higher pitched. He sounded like a creepy doll off a horror movie. "I'm just sitting here putting on my skinny jeans."

"For fucks sake," Jayfeather hissed. Lionblaze suddenly stopped giggling. "Oh, you know it's not Jayfeather?" he said in his normal voice. "I thought I was being convincing."

Jayfeather strained his ears, trying to listen to what Cloudtail was saying.

"I was just calling cause I felt like it," Lionblaze said into the phone again. "I'm using Jayfeathers phone cause I left mine downstairs and I'm far too lazy to walk down there."

"Is Jayfeather with you?" Jayfeather heard Cloudtail reply. He leaned even closer, heart hammering. _Is he still angry?_

"Put it on speaker," Jayfeather whispered. Lionblaze looked confused. "What?" he whispered back.

"Hit the speaker phone button," Jayfeather hissed. "So I can hear what he's saying!"

"Hang on a second, Cloudtail," Lionblaze said, looking flustered at having two conversations going at once. "Jayfeather wants me to put you on speaker phone."

Jayfeather wanted to tear his hair out. "You weren't supposed to tell him that, you freaking idiot!"

"This is all really hard to follow," Lionblaze said, clearly overwhelmed. "What are we talking about? Where am I? Who am I?"

"Stop being a retard," Jayfeather reached for the phone again, this time in succeeding in grabbing it. Lionblaze sat back on the bed, looking like he was thinking hard about a question. Jayfeather ignored him and hit the speaker button.

"Um, still there?" Cloudtails voice said clearly. Jayfeather felt his heart dance around. _It feels so good to hear his voice! _

"Yeah," Jayfeather said. "Lionblaze was just being weird."

"Oh," Cloudtail said quietly, clearly not expecting Jayfeather to talk. "Well, like, did you need something, or…?"

"I just wanted to say hi," Jayfeather said, wincing as his voice cracked. "And uh, I miss you."

"Well, to be honest, I miss-"

"THAT CUPCAKE WAS A WEEK OLD," Lionblaze suddenly hollered. "SHIT. I COMPLETELY FORGOT THAT WAS SITTING THERE FOR A WEEK… I ATE THE ENTIRE THING. FUCK-"

"SHUT THE FUCK UP!" Jayfeather screamed, punching Lionblaze in the arm. He quickly hit the speaker button again to turn it off, but in his hurried moments, he ended up dropping it on the floor. He watched with pure dismay as it ended his phone call.

"Lionblaze, he was just about to say he missed me!" Jayfeather cried. "And you freaking start screaming about your stupid _cupcake!_"

"I'm sorry!" Lionblaze wailed. "But it's not my fault… I'm just a little scatterbrained because I'm hungry, and tired, and my throat has been sore for like a month!"

"Your throat hasn't been sore," Jayfeather growled. "God, Lionblaze. It was going so well. Why couldn't you wait a second longer to start yelling?"

Now Lionblaze looked sad, and he slumped back on the bed. "I'm sorry," he said quietly.

Jayfeather sighed, feeling bad again. _I guess without him, I would still be sitting here, wondering if Cloudtail ever wanted to talk to me again... I guess Lionblaze ruined the phone call. But without him, it wouldn't have existed at all._

"Hey," Jayfeather put his hand on his brother's shoulder. "It's okay, alright. I'm sorry for yelling at you."

"Promise?" Lionblaze mumbled.

"Yeah," Jayfeather replied, standing up off his bed for the first time all day. His bones were sore from so much lying down with no movement whatsoever.

"Let's go get hamburgers," Jayfeather said. Lionblazes face turned from sadness to a look of pure excitement.

"Can we bring Hollyleaf?" he asked, jumping up at once. He fumbled to get his sweater on. Jayfeather smiled as he put it on inside out, too excited to even notice.

"I'll give her a call once we get on the bus," Jayfeather said, not wanting to bother Hollyleaf to pick them up. "I'll get her to meet us. If she's still with Tigerheart, he can come too."

"I can't wait!" Lionblaze cried out. He paused as he looked down at the food and milk that had spilled all over the floor. "Should we clean this up first?"

Jayfeather chucked a blanket over it. "Good enough," he smiled. "Now let's go something to eat that's not a week old."


	16. Orange Lipstick

Lionblaze Stole the Stars

Chapter 16: Orange Lipstick

Hollyleaf woke up to her alarm screaming under her pillow. She swore as she pulled out her phone, clicking the off button. _How is it eight already? _She thought crossly as she forced herself out of bed. _It feels like I just fell asleep. _She ran a brush through her tangled hair, yanking on a sweater at the same time. She didn't bother with makeup, figuring it didn't matter what people at work thought of her. She was just pulling her shoes on when Lionblaze stumbled out of his room, scratching the back of his neck.

"Why are you up?" Lionblaze asked groggily, squinting his eyes like one would do if they looked directly at the sun. "It's like the middle of the night."

"I didn't mean to wake you up," Hollyleaf replied. "I'm going to work. And it's not _the middle of the night. _It's eight in the morning."

"More or less the same thing," Lionblaze mumbled, walking back into his room. "See you later."

"Bye," Hollyleaf called after him, walking out the door. "I'll bring home food for dinner, so don't go out."

"Can it be chicken nuggets?" Lionblaze asked at once.

"No," Hollyleaf snapped. "We've eaten chicken nuggets three times this week already."

"They're delicious," Lionblaze pointed out, trying to be helpful. Hollyleaf didn't reply, and walked out the door. It was chilly out and frost was everywhere. Hollyleaf had to concentrate on not slipping in her heels as she walked out to her car.

* * *

><p>"Dovewing, can you hurry up?" Lionblaze said into his phone. "People are staring at me."<p>

"I'm coming, give me five minutes," Dovewing replied. "I just have to drop something off at my locker."

Lionblaze sighed and hung up, shifting his feet awkwardly. He was at Dovewings high school, waiting for her. Everyone stared at him like he was holding a chainsaw. _I can't look that much older, _Lionblaze thought. _It's times like these when I wish I had a car. If I had a car I'd sit in it right now instead of standing here. I hate this. _

"Hey," a girl said. Lionblaze broke out of his thoughts about cars and looked down. A very short girl was smiling up at him, twirling her hair.

"Hello," Lionblaze mumbled.

"You're cute," the girl said, pulling out her phone. "Give me your number so I can text you."

"Uh..." Lionblaze was completely unprepared. "Um, I don't have a phone."

The girl looked down at his hands, and Lionblaze hastily shoved his phone in his pocket. The girl shrugged and walked away.

"He's so cute, is he new?"

"I don't know, but I hope he's in some of my classes."

"He looks so cool… look at his tee shirt! I love that band."

Lionblaze coughed awkwardly as he overheard two girls conversation, and he took a few steps away. He looked down at his shirt, wondering why they found it so fascinating.

_I wonder how cool they'd think it was if they knew it's my sister's shirt and I've been wearing it for three days in a row._

Lionblaze looked around, wondering just what the heck was taking Dovewing so long. He said her name quietly, wondering if she could hear him wherever she was.

"Hey!"

Lionblaze spotted her walking through a crowd of people, waving and smiling at him.

"I heard you say my name," Dovewing said at once. "Right when I walked out the door."

Lionblaze smiled, thinking of her talent to hear faraway things. The door was clean across the parking lot.

"What took so long?" Lionblaze asked, leaning in to hug her.

"I forgot to put my textbooks in my locker," Dovewing replied, hugging him back. Lionblaze felt his heart beat faster. _She smells like strawberries. I like strawberries._

"So what are we going to do today?" Dovewing asked excitedly. Then her face fell, and she looked down. "Shit. I forgot I work today at five."

"Well, we still got two hours," Lionblaze shrugged. He thought of Dovewings job at the bar, and he silently wished she'd just quit. _There are way too many scummy people there, and she's so cute and young. She must get hit on all the time._

"Want to come over and meet my dad?" Dovewing suddenly asked out of nowhere. Lionblaze stared at her like she suggested that they throw rocks at elderly people.

"Don't give me that look," Dovewing poked him in the belly. "My dad's really cool. And he's been excited to meet you."

"But… it's so…" Lionblaze didn't really know what he was trying to say. "Uh, don't you think he'd be annoyed that I'm nineteen?"

"No," Dovewing said simply. "So do you want to come over then?"

"Sure," Lionblaze said at last. _I wish I was wearing some clean clothes now. I knew wearing this shirt again was a bad idea._

"Are they _dating?" _Lionblaze heard a girl whisper from behind him.

"I don't know," the girl she was talking with replied. "But I'm like, way hotter than Dovewing. He should date me instead."

Lionblaze turned around, unable to help himself. "I wouldn't touch you with a ten foot pole," he said without missing a beat. He then leaned down and kissed Dovewing on the lips.

"Fine," he said as he broke away, pretending to be annoyed. "Let's go meet your dad."

Dovewings eyes sparkled, and Lionblaze felt happy inside. _She's so cute. _

* * *

><p>Hollyleaf sat in the bathroom stall, smoking and reading a magazine. She flicked the ash into the toilet. <em>This magazine must be ten years old, <em>she thought, flipping through the pages. _It's so outdated. I wonder why the-_

The bathroom door slammed open, and Hollyleaf jumped. _Shit. Shit shit shit. _She threw her smoke in the toilet, flushing it right away. She peered through the crack in the stall, wondering who came in.

An angry blue eye suddenly stared back at her, purple eye shadow up to the eyebrow.

Hollyleaf shrieked and dropped her magazine, completely startled.

"Hollyleaf, you know you're not supposed to smoke in the bathrooms," the lady snapped, voice dripping with hatred. "And you're supposed to be working."

"I'm sorry, Linda," Hollyleaf said at once. _Out of all the freaking people to walk in… it had to be my boss. This is just not my day._

"Three strikes and you're out, Hollyleaf," Linda said triumphantly. Hollyleaf stared at the eye, wishing she could smack the tacky eye shadow off of it. "What's that supposed to mean?"

Linda leaned her lips against the crack in the stall, so all Hollyleaf could see was ugly, half faded orange lipstick. "You're," the lips moved. "Fired."

Hollyleaf got up at once, slamming the door open. "What the heck," she snapped. "You can't fire me for smoking in here… I know for a fact others do it too!"

"Pack up your things immediately," Linda said as if Hollyleaf hadn't spoken.

"You seriously can't-" Hollyleaf stammered. She stopped midsentence as Linda waved a hand, dismissing her. She gave a sort of half smile like she was proud of herself before walking out, flipping her hair behind her. Hollyleaf stood in shock, feeling completely numb.

_This was the best paying job I've ever had, _Hollyleaf thought, feeling a huge wave of stress crash over her.

_I'm so screwed_

* * *

><p>"Dad!" Dovewing called as she opened her door. "Dad, are you home?"<p>

Lionblaze felt incredibly awkward as he followed Dovewing into her house, taking off his shoes. _And my goddamn socks don't match, _Lionblaze thought as he looked down at his feet. _Of course. _

"I'm in the kitchen!" A man's voice called out.

"Come on," Dovewing said, grabbing Lionblazes hand. Lionblaze followed her, feeling terribly nervous. _I don't even know what to expect. _

Lionblaze stepped into the kitchen after Dovewing, and found himself face to face with her father. He was a smaller man, with a mustache and glasses and a kind face. He wore a tee shirt that he had tucked into his sweatpants. Lionblaze felt more at ease at once.

"Hello," the man said politely, reaching out a hand. "I take it you must be Lionblaze."

"I am," Lionblaze said, shaking his hand. _Aw jeez when was the last time I washed my hands… they feel so sticky._

"I just made some fries," the dad said. "Lionblaze, do you want some?"

"Yes please," Lionblaze said right away.

"Did you make them from scratch or buy them from the store?" Dovewing asked, turning around to grab some plates from the cupboard.

"Made em from scratch," the dad said, shoving the empty bag for precut fries into the garbage before Dovewing turned around. "I cut the potatoes and everything."

Lionblaze took the plate Dovewing handed to him, scooping a generous amount of the fries onto it.

"Hey!" the dad suddenly exclaimed. "We match!"

Lionblaze looked to where he was pointing; realizing the dad also had mismatched socks on.

"Here, dad," Dovewing waved the plate in front of his face. "Take it."

"It's easier just to eat them right off the pan," the dad said simply, picking up the entire tray. He carried them out to the living room, and set it on his lap.

_Oh my god, _Lionblaze thought to himself, trying to hide his smile. _He acts just like I do. _

"Honey, can you bring me the milk?" the dad called out. Dovewing returned a few moments later with a four liter jug of milk. She handed it to her dad and then sat down, stuffing her face with fries.

"Delicious," the dad said, taking a big sip out of the jug.

"Don't use a glass or anything," Dovewing said sarcastically. Lionblaze felt all warm inside. He ate his fries feeling very at ease. _I don't know what I was so worried about, _he thought. _Her dad is awesome!_

* * *

><p>"So I said, why do you even care if I buy it or not?" Jayfeather said into the phone. "It's not like you make commission off anything."<p>

"Yeah, I know just what you mean," Cloudtail replied. "They always act like it's something personal when you don't buy anything in that store."

"Right?" Jayfeather said. He had been talking on the phone with Cloudtail for nearly an hour, but it felt like it had only been five minutes. _I'm so glad we're talking again, _Jayfeather thought happily. _Even just as friends… I really missed him. _

Jayfeather was distracted as he heard a car pull into the driveway. _Hollyleaf must be home._

"I'll give you a call in a bit," Jayfeather said. "My sister just pulled in."

"Okay," Cloudtail replied. "Bye!"

Jayfeather bit his tongue hard as he hung up, nearly saying the words _I love you _out of habit. At once his heart burned a little, and he struggled to push it away.

_We're friends again… and we might get back together in the future… I can't screw this up, no matter how much it hurts._

He walked out of his room and down the stairs, surprised to see his brother lying on the couch watching TV.

"I thought you were hanging with Dovewing today," Jayfeather said.

"I was," Lionblaze replied. "But she had to go to work at five."

"Oh, okay," Jayfeather said. He was about to say something more but stopped when the door opened. Hollyleaf walked in, carrying a grocery bag. Jayfeather felt a pang of concern, she looked really upset.

"What's wrong?" he asked, taking the grocery bag from her so she could take off her coat. "Bad day at work?"

Hollyleaf just stared at him.

"What?" Jayfeather was starting to feel alarmed. Lionblaze got off the couch and walked over, obviously looking for the food Hollyleaf bought.

"Isn't that my shirt?" Hollyleaf muttered at last.

"Yes," Lionblaze said, digging through the grocery bag. He grabbed the cheese strings out of it and opened three at once.

"I'll start making dinner," Hollyleaf whispered very quietly, slowly taking a loaf of bread out of the bag.

"Hollyleaf, what's going on?" Jayfeather asked, gently putting his hand on his sister's shoulder. "Did something happen at work? Are you and Tigerheart fighting?"

"I got fired," Hollyleaf said after a few long moments. "And now we're all fucked for money."

"Wait, what?" Lionblaze cried, his mouth of cheese. "You got _fired?"_

"Did I stutter?" Hollyleaf snapped.

"What are we going to do for money?" Lionblaze asked, voice getting all high pitched. "Are we going to have to live on the street? Am I going to have to sell my body for drugs?"

Jayfeather smacked him on the back of the head.

"We might have to do something different," Hollyleaf said slowly. "And by that, I mean that you two might have to get jobs of your own."

"Oh god," Lionblaze whispered. "No…"

"We don't have much of a choice," Hollyleaf mumbled.

"Hey, if we all work part time, we can all have more days off," Jayfeather suggested. "With three incomes, I'm sure we'll be fine."

"I don't want to get a job," Lionblaze sulked, hanging his head.

"Too bad," Jayfeather snapped. Lionblaze grabbed the package of cheese strings out of the bag and stomped back into the living room.


	17. Scratch Tickets

Lionblaze Stole the Stars

Chapter 17: Scratch Tickets

"Have you applied for any jobs today?" Hollyleaf asked, folding her arms over her chest as she looked at her brother. Lionblaze was lying on the couch watching TV, a bag of cheezies beside him. His fingers and mouth were stained bright orange.

"I'm a little busy here," Lionblaze replied. Hollyleaf stomped over and grabbed the bag of cheezies.

"Hey!" Lionblaze whined.

"You need to start taking this seriously," Hollyleaf snapped. "Get off your ass and go apply at places."

"I just…" Lionblaze broke off midsentence to sigh loudly. "I just really, really, don't want to work."

"Neither do we," Jayfeathers voice sounded behind them. Hollyleaf looked up to see Jayfeather walking into the living room, looking tired.

"Have you been out all day?" Hollyleaf asked, setting the cheezies down on the coffee table. "I haven't seen you since this morning."

"I applied at like, a hundred places," Jayfeather said, shoving Lionblazes legs off the couch to make room for himself. "If I don't get a call back, I'll be concerned."

"I applied at a few offices," Hollyleaf said. "If none of them call me back this week I'll go out again."

"And what have _you _done all day?" Jayfeather asked, turning around to talk to Lionblaze. Lionblaze, who had grabbed the cheezies off the table, stuffed a big handful into his mouth.

"I can't talk now, it's rude to talk with your mouth open," Lionblaze said happily, crumbs flying out of his mouth. Jayfeather sighed and turned back to Hollyleaf.

"Don't worry," he said quietly. "I know it's stressful right now, but it'll pass. We're just in an odd transition."

"I know," Hollyleaf said, trying her best not to sound upset. "Let's do something to get our mind off things. Want to go out for dinner?"

"I already ate when I was in town," Jayfeather replied.

"I'd like to go for dinner," Lionblaze put in.

"You get no say in this because you sat on the couch all day," Hollyleaf snapped. Lionblaze grumbled something inaudible and shoved more cheezies into his mouth.

"I don't know, we could go grab a drink or maybe-" Hollyleaf paused as her phone vibrated in her pocket. "I wonder if someone's calling about a job," she said excitedly, grabbing her phone as fast as she could. Her face fell as she looked at it.

"It's just a text message," Hollyleaf mumbled.

**Txt from: Firestar**

_What does he want? _Hollyleaf thought to herself as she opened the message. _He never texts me._

**Got kicked out of Brambleclaws house again. Can I crash at your house tonight?**

"Firestars asking if he can spend the night," Hollyleaf relayed the message out loud. "Apparently he got kicked out of Brambleclaws house."

"He gets kicked out of his house at least twice a week," Jayfeather mumbled.

"I like Firestar," Lionblaze said happily. "I'd like him to come over; he can sleep in my room."

"Every time Firestars around, something bad happens," Hollyleaf said after a few moments. "The guy's like a walking example of bad luck."

"I'm sure it'll be fine," Lionblaze said quickly. "Just let him come over."

"Fine," Hollyleaf replied, trying to ignore her gut feeling as she texted Firestar that he could come. "But if something bad happens… I'm holding you to blame, Lionblaze."

"I'M EXCITED!" Lionblaze cried, shaking the bag of cheezies furiously. They flew out of the bag and got all over the couch.

"Lionblaze, for god's sake," Jayfeather snapped, brushing off the cheezies that landed on his head.

_Ding dong!_

"That can't be Firestar already," Hollyleaf said in confusion. "I just sent him the okay's like… two minutes ago." She walked to the door, and looked through the curtains.

"It's him," she said in surprise as she opened the door. _And… Brambleclaw. Great._

"Trick or treat!" Firestar smiled. "Just kidding. Thanks for letting me come over."

"How did you get here so fast?" Hollyleaf asked, stepping aside to let them in. "And Brambleclaw, what are you doing here? I thought you kicked Firestar out."

"Nah," Brambleclaw said, taking off his coat. "My landlord kicked us both out."

"And I was already in your driveway when I texted you," Firestar said happily.

"Okay, well…" Hollyleafs bad feeling grew. _Firestar by himself is bad. But add Brambleclaw into the mix and you got yourself a train wreck waiting to happen. _"Come on in."

"FIRESTAR!" Lionblaze bellowed, leaping off the couch.

"LIONBLAZE!" Firestar shouted back, throwing his arms up in the air. Lionblaze charged over and gave him a big hug.

"HOW ARE YOU?" Lionblaze screamed, obviously delighted that Firestar was joining in with the unnecessary loudness.

"I AM APPALLED. I HAVE BEEN IN THIS RESIDENCE FOR TWO FULL MINUTES AND NO ONE HAS OFFERED ME A PIECE OF CAKE," Firestar hollered, stomping his foot on the ground.

"HOLLYLEAF, YOU HEARD THE MAN," Lionblaze screeched, turning to his sister. "ONE SLICE OF CAKE, ON THE PRONTO-"

"JUST SHUT THE FUCK UP!" Jayfeather yelled from the living room. "Like holy crap."

"I think you burst my eardrums," Hollyleaf sighed. _Lionblaze gets so giddy when Firestars around. I have a feeling I'm not going to get much sleep tonight._

"Sorry for yelling in your ear," Lionblaze apologized. "But in all seriousness, I'm sure I speak for everyone when I say that grilled cheese sandwiches would be a swell idea."

"I like ham chopped up into slices in my grilled cheese," Firestar said, turning to Hollyleaf with a serious expression on his face. "I'd write that down if I were you."

"Lionblaze, I'm not your slave," Hollyleaf hissed, getting very fed up. "Go make your own goddamn sandwiches."

"I'll make them," Brambleclaw shrugged, giving Hollyleaf an apologetic smile. "I don't mind."

"O-oh," Hollyleaf stammered, taken completely off guard. "Thanks, Brambleclaw." _Wow… that was nice of him. Usually he's a huge jerk to everyone. Probably because of all the drugs he's always doing. _Hollyleaf smiled to herself, watching as Firestar snatched the cheezies from Lionblaze. This caused Lionblaze to punch him, which escalated into a full out scrap on the floor.

_I can't really blame Brambleclaw. If I were Firestars best friend, I'd probably do a lot of drugs too._

"I'll show you were the bread and cheese is," Hollyleaf said, leading Brambleclaw into the kitchen.

"Cool," Brambleclaw shrugged.

"So why did you and Firestar get kicked out?" Hollyleaf couldn't help asking as she opened a kitchen cupboard. She grabbed the bread and set it down on the table.

"Firestar decided to be a dumbass and got arrested last night," Brambleclaw sighed, rolling his eyes. "Frikin idiot. My landlord found out and said she was sick and tired of renting to us because we're apparently always causing some sort of issue."

"Well, you know," Hollyleafs voice trailed off. "Firestars Firestar."

"He's been getting on my nerves lately," Brambleclaw confessed, looking at the door as if he was making sure Firestar wasn't listening. "Ever since I stopped doing cocaine, he's been hard to handle."

"Oh, I didn't know you quit," Hollyleaf said in surprise. "That's good. Good for you."

"I'm trying to get Firestar to ease up on it too," Brambleclaw replied. "Sometimes he goes so hard I worry his hearts just gonna stop."

"Just drink instead," Hollyleaf giggled. "That causes problems down the road too I guess but at least its not cocaine."

"Yeah," Brambleclaw flashed her a bright smile, and then looked away quickly. _He's like an entirely different person, _Hollyleaf thought in awe. She got a flashback quickly of the last time she had spoken to Brambleclaw, a few weeks ago at a party.

"_Hollyleaf, dude, let me borrow fifty dollars," Brambleclaw said way too fast, bouncing slightly on his feet. _

"_Why?" Hollyleaf replied._

"_Just, you know, Firestar needs some for that thing," Brambleclaw said, stumbling over every word._

"_Tell Firestar to get his own money," Hollyleaf snapped. _

"_Hollyleaf, fuck, just like, give me twenty dollars then."_

"_No."_

"_One dollar?" Brambleclaw pleaded, his bloodshot eyes wide._

"_What would you even do with one dollar?" Hollyleaf scoffed._

"_Fuck, man," Brambleclaw swore and shook his head from side to side. "I'm so fucked, you know?"_

Hollyleaf snapped back to reality as the doorbell rang again.

"Now what?" Hollyleaf muttered, walking back into the living room. Firestar had answered the door, it was Graystripe and Longtail.

Graystripe and Longtail were Firestars backup friends; he hung out with them whenever Brambleclaw wasn't around. Graystripe was a skinny guy with a kind face and hair that stuck up everywhere. Longtail looked like he was constantly stoned. Today was no exception. He was gazing off at the wall, clearly not present in reality.

"What the hell?" Hollyleaf mouthed at Lionblaze, who looked like he had finally calmed down a notch.

"I'm sorry," Lionblaze mouthed back, looking genuinely apologetic. "I didn't know."

"Hey, Hollyleaf," Graystripe nodded to her.

"Hi," Hollyleaf replied, glaring at the back of Firestars head. _Of course he would invite people over to my house. Of course._

"I smell grilled cheese's," Longtail said to no one in particular. He kicked off his shoes and walked into the kitchen.

"Hey man, what's up?" Hollyleaf heard Brambleclaw say. She turned her attention back to Firestar.

"Firestar, you can't just invite people over here," she said. "It's not your house and-"

"I got you something," Firestar interrupted, grabbing a stack of papers out of his pocket. After a closer inspection, Hollyleaf realized they were lottery scratch tickets.

"I've been playing these every day," Firestar explained, handing her one. "My buddy won twenty bucks off of one the other day."

"Well, thanks," Hollyleaf said, looking at the ticket. It was shiny and gold, with the words _WIN MILLIONS TODAY _plastered all over it.

_Wouldn't that be terrific, _Hollyleaf thought dreamily. _Winning the lottery... then I could forget all about this stupid financial hole we're living in._

"Did I hear someone was passing out free lottery tickets?" Jayfeather said, walking in holding a grilled cheese sandwich. Brambleclaw was just behind him, also holding a grilled cheese. Lionblaze and Longtail came out a few seconds later, each holding four or five.

"I have enough for everyone," Firestar said, passing them out.

"Let's go sit in the living room," Jayfeather suggested.

"I brought beer too," Graystripe said. "Hang on a second, I'll go get it. It's in my car."

Hollyleaf walked into the living room, her thoughts clouded from fantasies of winning the lottery. _Then we wouldn't have to work… we wouldn't have to live in this crappy apartment… it would be a dream come true._

She sat down next to Lionblaze, who had set his sandwiches beside him on the couch.

"Where's your plate?" she snapped.

"Don't need one," Lionblaze shrugged.

"Could you imagine," Jayfeather said, a slow smile stretching across his face. "If we won?"

"I was just thinking that," Hollyleaf said. "Don't get your hopes up, Jayfeather. You have a better chance of being struck by lightning."

"Well, someone's gotta get struck by lightning," Firestar shrugged. "Just like someone's gotta win the lottery."

Hollyleaf didn't reply, distracted from Graystripe who had returned. He set a twelve case of beer on the table and sat down on the floor. Everyone reached out and grabbed one. _I guess this isn't that bad of an evening, _Hollyleaf thought to herself, feeling much better and less annoyed. She grabbed a beer for herself and cracked it open. _I think we're all feeling nostalgic about winning. _

"If one of us wins, we are going to party like kings," Firestar said solemnly, raising his beer. Everyone clinked bottles, and Hollyleaf felt excited.

"Let's all do it at the same time," Jayfeather said. "Alright, ready… now!"

Hollyleaf looked down at her ticket, and used her fingernail to scratch away the soft part. _Okay, so I need to match up three amounts to win… _she scratched the entire ticket, hoping to see three of the same number. _600… 600… _Hollyleaf nervously looked around for another 600, knowing very well that there wouldn't be one there. _650. Are you kidding me? What a tease! _She scratched the bottom bonus spot, and wasn't surprised to see a _no instant win _meet her eyes.

"Nothing," Hollyleaf mumbled, throwing her ticket on the table. "Not even a dollar."

"I won a free ticket," Jayfeather shrugged, taking a sip of his beer. "Could have been worse."

"Hell yeah," Firestar said, looking up at them. "I won five bucks."

"I got a whole lot of nothing," Graystripe sighed, leaning back in his chair. "Well, it was fun while it lasted."

"I can definitely see why people get addicted to these things," Hollyleaf commented. "You really get your hopes up."

"I lost too," Longtail put in. "But I'm not surprised. I never win on these. I've never even won a free coffee or donut when Tim Hortans has the roll up the rim cups. And I buy a lot of fucking coffee."

"What about you?" Hollyleaf asked Lionblaze, who had yet to say anything. "Did you lose too?"

"Yeah," Lionblaze sighed loudly. "And I was so close! I only needed one more number."

"So did I," Hollyleaf replied. "That's how they reel you in, they make you think you've almost won so you buy more."

"It just seems silly," Lionblaze said, shaking his head. "Giving you three of the right numbers. What chances are there ever being of someone finding all four of them?"

"I know," Hollyleaf said, agreeing. A weird feeling then tugged at the back of her mind, but she couldn't place it.

"So what now?" Brambleclaw asked. "Should we go buy more beer, or what?"

"I can go pick some up," Graystripe offered. "I can bring one other person with me. We can grab coffee's too while we're at it, Longtail got coffee stuck in my head now."

The odd feeling in Hollyleafs mind grew. She looked over at Lionblaze, replaying what he had just said.

_Giving you three of the right numbers. What chances are there ever being of someone finding all four of them?_

"Lionblaze," Hollyleaf said slowly. "You said you found three of the same numbers?"

"Yeah, but you need four of the same to win," Lionblaze explained, trying to be helpful. Hollyleafs heart started to smash against her ribcage.

"You only need three," Jayfeather put in, looking up at Hollyleaf with wide eyes.

"Oh," Lionblaze gasped. "Oh!"

Hollyleaf grabbed Lionblaze's ticket of the table, feeling dizzy. She looked at the three numbers that were the same, unable to believe her eyes. It felt like her whole world turned upside down.

_900,000,000$_

_900,000,000$_

_900,000,000$_

"What is it, like a hundred bucks or something?" Jayfeather asked.

"WE WON!" Hollyleaf screamed, jumping up off the couch. "WE WON!"


	18. Cherry Candies

Lionblaze Stole the Stars

Chapter 18: Cherry Candies

_Some legends are told_

_Some turn to dust, some to gold_

_But you will remember me_

_Remember me _

_For centuries_

_And just one mistake_

_Is all it will take_

_We'll go down in history_

_Remember me _

_For centuries_

* * *

><p>Hollyleaf screamed, clenching the winning ticket with all her strength. She was dimly aware of the others screaming too, jumping up and down around the living room. Bells were ringing in her ears, and stars blinded her vision.<p>

_We won, _she thought to herself. _We won the fucking lottery! _

"I CAN'T BELIEVE IT!" Jayfeather screeched, shaking Hollyleafs shoulders. "WE'RE RICH!"

"WE'RE FILTHY RICH!" Hollyleaf screamed back.

"I'M GONNA BUY SO MANY BOXES OF MACARONI AND CHEESE!" Lionblaze hollered, jumping up and down on the couch. Hollyleaf laughed, Lionblaze looked more excited than he ever did in his life. He took off his shoes and flung them out the window for no good reason.

"I hope you remember who bought the tickets," Firestar hinted, waggling his eyebrows and nudging Lionblaze. "Cough, cough."

"Don't worry, Firestar," Hollyleaf replied before Lionblaze could say something dumb about spending the entire thing on macaroni and cheese. "We're not gonna rip you off."

"I think we should like, all split it, you know?" Longtail said, smiling hugely. "Man, I'm gonna buy so much weed."

"We'll figure it all out later," Firestar said excitedly as he whipped out his cell phone. "We're not gonna worry about anything tonight. We're getting fucked up."

"I'll make some calls," Graystripe said at once, taking out his cell phone too. "I'll send a text to everyone on my friends list."

"PARTY ALL NIGHT!" Lionblaze screamed in Hollyleafs ear. He leaped off the couch and ripped the lampshade off the lamp. He put it on his head and started jumping around again. "LAMPSHADE ON THE HEAD!"

"You okay with this?" Jayfeather asked quietly. Hollyleaf smiled, blinking away the stars and dollar signs.

"Hell yeah!" she cried.

"Longtail and I will get the booze," Graystripe said, snapping his phone shut and grabbing his coat. "Tonight we're buying out the liquor store."

"I'll run to the store and grab snacks," Jayfeather offered. "Hollyleaf, can I borrow your car or do you want to drive?"

"You go, my keys are on the kitchen table," Hollyleaf waved her hand in the direction of the kitchen. "I'll stay here and put away every breakable thing we own."

"Be back in twenty," Jayfeather nodded and ran away, yanking on his sweater in the process.

"I'm gonna go make a stop at my friend's house to pick up," Firestar said. "Brambleclaw, you coming?"

"Uh, I'm just gonna stay here," Brambleclaw said, looking at the floor. "I'll help Hollyleaf put stuff away."

"Whatever," Firestar shrugged, walking away. "See you in an hour."

Hollyleaf looked at the crestfallen look on Brambleclaws face and instantly felt bad. _Poor guy, _she thought. _Tonight's going to be a twisted mass of drugs and alcohol. I hope he doesn't give into Firestars peer pressure._

"Hey," Hollyleaf whispered, placing her hand gently on Brambleclaws shoulder. "I got your back, okay?"

"Thanks," Brambleclaw smiled at her, eyes sad. "You're a good friend, Hollyleaf. I'm sorry I was never a good one back."

"Don't worry about it," Hollyleaf smiled. _It's funny how drugs make people act the way they do. I hope Brambleclaw doesn't start doing cocaine again… it would be a terrible waste of a good person._

* * *

><p>"No, Cloudtail, seriously," Jayfeather said excitedly into his phone. "We won the fucking lottery. Nine hundred grand."<p>

"I just can't believe it," Cloudtail said back. "It seems too good to be real."

"I haven't fully processed it either," Jayfeather admitted, shifting his phone to the other side as he steered Hollyleafs car. "So, if you're interested, we're having a pretty big party over at my place."

"Oh…" Cloudtails voice trailed off. "Do you want me to come?"

"Yeah," Jayfeather admitted quietly. _I haven't seen him since the last party we had where Scourge fucked everything up. I miss him so much._

"You said Firestars involved, eh?" Cloudtail snickered. "I hope you're ready for every cop in town to make an appearance."

"Probably," Jayfeather rolled his eyes. "But either way, this party is gonna be _huge. _It's gonna go down one way or the other."

"Well," Cloudtail said after a moment's thought. "Sure, why not. I'll text you before I get there, kay?"

"Awesome," Jayfeather whispered, excitement running through him. "I missed you."

"I missed you too," Cloudtail replied softly.

"I'm pulling up at the gas station now," Jayfeather said, steering the car into the parking lot. "See you later!"

"Bye," Cloudtail said, hanging up. Jayfeather smiled as the line went dead.

"I love you," he whispered, even though he knew Cloudtail wasn't there anymore. "I fucking love you."

* * *

><p>Lionblaze screamed as Dovewing screamed, jumping around in a mad frenzy. He had just finished telling her about how they won, and she was just as excited as she was.<p>

"SO DO YOU WANT ME TO COME PICK YOU UP?" Lionblaze screeched. "I DON'T HAVE A CAR BUT I CAN WALK TO YOUR HOUSE AND GET YOU!"

"LET ME ASK MY DAD!" Dovewing screamed back.

"ASK HIM RIGHT NOW!" Lionblaze yelled.

"I WILL!"

Lionblaze waited impatiently, pacing around the room. _I hope her dads cool with letting her come party, _Lionblaze thought. _He seems pretty chill… and she's almost seventeen I guess._

A noise from the phone distracted him, and he started screaming again.

"WHAT DID YOUR DAD SAY? CAN YOU COME OVER?"

"Hello, Lionblaze," a man's gentle voice said into the phone.

"Oops, hello Dovewings dad," Lionblaze said much quieter, mentally kicking himself for screaming into the phone.

"Dovewing tells me you are throwing a party?" the dad asked.

"Oh, yes," Lionblaze started, taken completely off guard. "We won the lottery, so we're celebrating."

"Will there be many people there?"

Lionblaze looked out his window, taking note of the cars that were starting to line up in his driveway. People were making their way in at a fast rate.

"There's gonna be a few," Lionblaze confessed.

"I'll let her go on one condition," the dad said sternly. "You get her a taxi before one in the morning, understand? There will be no getting in the car with someone that's been drinking."

"You got it," Lionblaze promised. "I'll take care of her."

"I'm putting a lot of trust in you here," the dad said. "Please don't let me down."

"She's safe with me," Lionblaze said. "Cross my heart."

* * *

><p>Jayfeather set an armload of chips on the counter, and reached into his pocket to find his wallet. He pulled out his phone in the process, and was surprised to see a text message notification. <em>That wasn't there when I walked in, <em>Jayfeather thought to himself. He opened it, wondering if it was Hollyleaf asking him where he was.

**Txt from: Scourge**

**I see you!**

Jayfeathers heart did a mad jerking feeling as he read it. He looked around, and glanced out the gas station window. _Shit. He's the last person I need right now. Where is he, anyway?_

"Hey, stranger!"

Jayfeather shrieked and whipped around, and found himself face to face with Scourge. Scourges face was all red as if he was just running around, and his lips looked like he had eaten a cherry lollipop. His black hair was perfectly styled around his face, and his eyes shined.

_Goddamn he's so fucking hot_

"Uh, whatcha up to?" Jayfeather stammered.

"Are you like, gonna pay, or what?" the gas station worker interrupted rudely. Jayfeather shoved a couple twenties towards him and turned back to Scourge.

"I heard the news," Scourge said excitedly, staring into Jayfeathers eyes. "I can't believe you won!"

"Me either," Jayfeather replied. _Shit, how long has it been, half an hour? The whole city's gonna know at this rate. _Jayfeather grabbed his bags of chips and walked outside, Scourge behind him.

"I wanted to apologize, for causing whatever problems I did," Scourge said suddenly. Jayfeather turned to face him, surprised.

"Cloudtail told me everything," Scourge confessed, looking down. "I've been feeling really bad about it."

"Hey, it's okay," Jayfeather said, wondering why he felt the sudden urge to comfort him. "We're all good now, okay? Don't worry about it."

"Okay, well," Scourge looked up at him again; his ice blue eyes seemed to shoot daggers into Jayfeathers heart. "You seem really cool. I hope we can be friends."

"Okay," Jayfeather smiled uncontrollably, unable to help it. "Let's be friends then."

"So are you going to invite me to your party?" Scourge asked, tilting his head to the side and widening his eyes. "Pretty please?"

_Why does it feel like we've had this conversation before? _Jayfeather thought. He ignored the weird feeling that rose in his heart and nodded his head to the passenger side of Hollyleafs red car.

"Get in," Jayfeather said. "I'll give you a ride."

"Yay," Scourge smiled brightly and got in. A weird thought then crossed Jayfeathers mind.

_Wait, why would Cloudtail tell Scourge everything that happened? I thought he didn't like him… since when have they started hanging out? _Jayfeather swallowed the lump that suddenly rose into his throat.

_Something's not right here_

Jayfeather got in the driver's side and stuck his key into the ignition. He turned on his left signal light and hovered his foot over the gas pedal. But he didn't start driving. He stared out the windshield, listening to the car make a beeping noise because of the signal light.

"Jayfeather?" Scourge said quietly.

"Scourge," Jayfeather replied, smiling slightly for no reason. He felt dizzy, as if he was drunk. _What's even going on in my life right now? _He thought. _Everything's changing so fast._

"Jayfeather," Scourge said, leaning closer. He poked Jayfeathers cheek, trying to get his attention. "What are you doing? Are you okay?"

"Yeah, I'm just-" Jayfeather started, turning his head to look at him. His voice caught in his throat, Scourges face was really close to his. Jayfeather stared at his perfect face and forgot everything. All he could think about was how red Scourge's lips were, as if he had eaten a hundred cherry candies.

And then he leaned closer, and kissed him.

Scourge's breath caught in his throat and he kissed him back, running his fingers through the back of Jayfeathers hair. Jayfeather kissed him harder, almost angrily. He felt all his anger and sadness melt out, and he pulled away. He smiled at Scourge, who was staring at him with his eyes wide.

"Let's go," Jayfeather said as if it had never happened. "Hollyleaf will be wondering where I am."

He pulled out of the parking lot, and turned the radio up loud. Music screamed through the car, and Jayfeather sang along happily.

_He didn't taste like cherries. _

_Strawberries, maybe_

_But definitely not cherries._

* * *

><p>"SHOTS FOR EVERYONE!" Lionblaze screamed, slamming down a tray of tiny cups. Three of them spilled, but he didn't care.<p>

"What even is this?" Hollyleaf asked in disgust, holding up the shot glass. The liquid inside was jet black, and looked thick like soup.

"I honestly don't know," Lionblaze confessed, holding up the bottle he poured the shots from. "I found it in the kitchen. I tried some; it tastes kind like black jellybeans."

"I love black jellybeans," Jayfeather giggled, downing the shot. His face immediately twisted up and he slapped his hand over his mouth as if he was trying not to throw up. "I don't like black jellybeans anymore," he said sadly, shoving the glass away. "Holy shit that's nasty."

"What are you guys, ten years old?" Firestar scoffed, downing his shot. "Learn how to drink!"

"Shut up, Firestar," Brambleclaw mumbled. "I've seen you throw up after shots before."

"Yeah, after I've already had like, twenty," Firestar grinned, reaching over the table to grab Brambleclaws shot. He downed it and stuck his tongue out at Brambleclaw.

"Firestar, you sure know how to party," Lionblaze said cheerfully. He poured another round of shots from the black bottle, sloshing a bunch of it on the table in the process. "I wish I was more like you."

"We are soul mates, Lionblaze," Firestar said drunkenly, holding up his pinky finger. "Till death."

"Till death," Lionblaze promised slowly, linking his own pinky with Firestars. "Can't go back on pinky promises."

"Can you go get a bottle of something that's actually good?" Hollyleaf asked, shoving her untouched shot away. "This looks like poison."

"I always come prepared," Graystripe winked, grabbing a bottle of vodka out from under the table.

"Why the fuck are we drinking this then?" Lionblaze scoffed, slamming the black bottle on the table. "Sheesh."

Firestar grabbed the bottle right away and promptly poured himself another shot.

Lionblaze held up his cup and let Graystripe fill it a quarter of the way up. He filled the rest with orange juice and took a big chug.

"Here, mix some of this in there," Firestar slurred, leaning forward with the black bottle.

"Will you fuck off with that thing?" Brambleclaw snapped, leaning forward and snatching it away. Firestar grumbled something and sipped at his cup which was straight alcohol.

By now, the house was completely packed with people, and there was still more trying to get in. The party had escalated to the lawn, and onto the street. Lionblaze didn't even know how so many people could occupy one residence at a time. The music was cranked on full blast, and everyone was drunk. Lionblaze giggled as he felt his insides get all warm from the alcohol. _This is the best night ever!_

"How much time do you think we have until the cops show up?" Dovewing giggled, poking Lionblaze.

"I'm honestly surprised they haven't shown up already," Lionblaze replied, taking a big sip of his drink. _Yuck, that's way too strong… oh well! _

"You guys are gonna get so busted," Dovewing whispered. "This party is way out of control."

"We're all having so much fun though," Lionblaze cried, jumping up. "Let's go dance!"

He grabbed Dovewings hands and started jumping around, screaming at the top of his lungs. He spun around and around, feeling his insides spin around too.

_I'm drunk, _he thought happily.

_This must mean it's time to drink some more!_

* * *

><p>Jayfeather jumped up and down on the couch, screaming and dancing. He was holding hands with a girl he didn't know, and didn't have socks on.<p>

"I'M SO HAMMERED!" Jayfeather screamed, feeling drunker than he had in months. "BUT IT DOESN'T MATTER BECAUSE I'M FUCKING RICH!"

He then tripped and fell off the couch, smacking his head against the table.

"I'm okay!" Jayfeather cried out. Everyone cheered and raised there glasses, screaming constantly. Jayfeather grabbed the girl he was dancing with and spun her around, just barely catching her.

"You're beautiful, you're wonderful," Jayfeather slurred, kissing her hand. "You should be a dancer or something," then he ran away, in search for other people to drink with. He spotted Firestar sitting alone at a table, holding a bottle of black liquid.

"FIRESTAR!" Jayfeather screamed, running towards him. He tripped twice on his way over but he didn't care.

"Jayfeather," Firestar said, staring up at him. "I don't think I've ever seen you this smashed."

"My question is," Jayfeather reached out his hand and poked him on the nose. "Is why aren't _you _this smashed?"

"I am," Firestar said, holding up the half-filled bottle. "I'm just not feeling all that crazy tonight."

"OH _COME ON_!" Jayfeather cried out, throwing his hands in the air for emphasis. "YOU'RE RICH NOW! THIS SHOULD BE THE NIGHT OF ALL OTHERS TO GET CRAZY!"

Firestar smiled, and stood up. "You know, you're right," he said determinedly, swaying slightly. "It's time to go hard!"

"YEAH!" Jayfeather screamed, jumping up and down.

"You want to really fly?" Firestar asked suddenly, pulling a bag out of his pocket. Jayfeather stared at it, wondering what it was.

"Is that…. CRYSTAL METH?" Jayfeather screeched. "NO WAY!"

"Chill," Firestar laughed. "I'm trying to have a good time, not wind up dead. It's just extacy."

"Oh," Jayfeather mumbled. "I don't know, Firestar… I don't really do drugs and I've already drank a lot and-" he broke off as Firestar dropped one of the pills into a shot glass and filled it up with his black liquid. He used his finger to mix it around before handing it to Jayfeather.

"I usually take like three or four pills at a time," Firestar winked. "You'll be okay."

"Are you sure?" Jayfeather slurred, feeling very uneasy but very at ease at the same time. "Like, really sure?"

"Trust me," Firestar popped a pill into his own mouth and washed it down with his drink. Almost instantly his eyes lit up and he smiled widely.

"COME ON!" Firestar screeched, flailing his hands everywhere. "YOU SAID IT YOURSELF, WE'RE RICH!"

"YEAH!" Jayfeather screamed, feeling excited all over again. He downed the shot and slammed it on the table. At once it felt like a thousand tiny sparks were under his skin.

"LET'S GO DANCE!" Jayfeather grabbed Firestar and started moving around in a way that he never thought he could move. The lights pulsed and swirled around him, and everyone's faces shined bright and happy.

He jumped back on the couch he was jumping on earlier.

Lionblaze suddenly came out of nowhere, and started jumping on the couch with him.

But then he fell, and felt his head hit something hard on the floor.

This was his last memory of the evening.


	19. Finale

Lionblaze Stole the Stars

Chapter 19: Finale

Jayfeather took a long drag off his cigarette, staring out the window at the rain. _What a dismal day, _he thought to himself, taking a sip of the coffee he was holding in his hand. _It feels like the rain will never stop. _

It had been two days since the party, and he was just starting to feel normal again. He thought back to the crazy night and shuddered, thinking to himself how stupid he was to take drugs. _Remind me never to party with Firestar again, _he thought. Then he snorted and rolled his eyes. _I know I probably will. I just need to be smarter. _He couldn't remember the last of the evening, but Hollyleaf and Lionblaze had filled him in on what they could remember. _You were dancing on the couch for like, ever. Then you just passed out, fell on the floor and didn't wake up for an hour. When you did, you sobbed to Lionblaze for a good forty five minutes about how it felt like you were gonna die. After that, I don't know. _Hollyleafs words ran through his mind, but they didn't make him feel bad anymore like they used to. _Shit happens, I've done worse I guess._

A sudden ding brought him out of his memories, and Jayfeather set his coffee down on the windowsill so he could take out his phone.

**Txt message from: Scourge**

Tiny arrows pierced Jayfeathers heart. He thought back to the night of the party, when he kissed Scourge. _I liked it a lot, _he thought, feeling glad that no one could read his thoughts. _I want to do it again. _He clicked the open button on his phone.

**I'm thinking about you. Just wanted to let you know that**

Jayfeather found him smiling like a little kid on Christmas morning. He quickly replied with 'me too,' and shoved his phone back in his pocket. Sparks were flying in his mind, and it felt like something was squeezing at his heart.

_I'm either falling in love or high on drugs again._

_I don't know which one is scarier_

His phone buzzed again, and Jayfeather whipped it out at once. His face fell as he realized it wasn't Scourge, but Cloudtail.

**Hey!**

Jayfeather instantly thought of the night of the party, when he was in the car with Scourge. But this time he wasn't thinking about the kiss, he was thinking of what he knew.

_Cloudtail told Scourge everything about what happened between us, which means they must be good friends… but_ _Cloudtail had told me that Scourge was bad news, and to stay away from him._

_How can I not believe that they had something going on?_

_Cloudtail has been so distant from me lately. Does he feel bad about what he's done?_

_Does he feel guilt, shame?_

_Do I even want him to feel these things?_

Jayfeather sipped his coffee again, putting out his smoke in an empty coke can that was sitting on the coffee table. He thought about how Cloudtail had been so quick to dump him for just looking at another guy. _As if he never has. _He thought about the trust that had been lost, and the respect that was fading. He glanced down at the message that was still open.

He shut his phone and put it back in his pocket without replying.

* * *

><p>Hollyleaf sighed as she found a piece of pizza stuffed in the couch cushions. She picked it up disgustedly and threw it in the trash, wondering how she was still finding random trash stuffed everywhere two days after she had cleaned the entire house. <em>I guess it was the biggest party we've ever thrown, <em>Hollyleaf thought. _I guess it only makes sense that we'd have the most garbage to clean up. _She thought back to the other night, reliving the excitement in her mind.

_It was the party of the year, that's for sure._

_We had the entire police force stop by. _

Hollyleaf sat down on the couch, looking off at Jayfeather. He was holding a cup of coffee and staring out the window, obviously lost in thought.

_I wonder what he's thinking about. He's probably reliving the party in his mind like I am. _

_Who knows_

She turned her focus back to her own thoughts, thinking suddenly of Brambleclaw and how he hadn't done any drugs at the party. _Goes to show how much willpower he has gained to resist Firestars bad habits… even Jayfeather couldn't say no, and he's usually pretty solid on what he wants._

Hollyleaf found herself thinking about the future, and what would come of it now that they had so much money. She thought of the way Jayfeather had felt terrible after he woke up the next morning after the party, how he felt bad about himself.

_It's funny; a year ago… we would have just laughed_

_Maybe we're finally growing up_

* * *

><p><em>Ring!<em>

Lionblazes ringtone suddenly went off, making him jump in surprise. He quickly hit pause on his video game and yanked out his phone.

"Hello?"

"Hey!" Dovewings voice answered him.

"Oh hi," Lionblaze said happily, kicking a bag of chips off his bed so he could lie down. "How are you? I sent you a text message earlier but you never replied."

"Sorry, I was out running errands," Dovewing said after a pause. Lionblaze got a funny feeling in his heart. It was the feeling one would get when they forget the last stair on the staircase, foot falling too far in a second of panic.

_Why does she sound so weird?_

"Is everything okay?" Lionblaze asked in concern. "You sound kind of off."

"Oh, I'm fine," Dovewing replied a second too fast. "Just a little stressed out, I guess. My sister Ivypool had a pregnancy scare."

"Oh no," Lionblaze said, feeling bad for her. He thought of Ivypool, who was the same age as Dovewing. _Getting pregnant at that age would be terrible. I guess they're almost seventeen, but that's still way too early. I can't even imagine having a kid in the next ten years._

"She's not, thankfully," Dovewing put in. "But it really freaked me out. Could you imagine?"

"I was just thinking about it," Lionblaze confessed. "I honestly don't know what I would do if it were me. I can barely take care of myself, let alone a screaming baby."

Dovewing was quiet, and Lionblaze caught note of the way she was breathing into the phone.

"What's wrong?" Lionblaze asked, getting concerned all over again. "You said she wasn't pregnant. You should be happy!"

"I am," Dovewing said. But Lionblaze could tell she was lying.

"Cheer up," Lionblaze said. "Why don't you come over for a bit and have dinner with me? I can cook you a can of ravioli in the microwave."

"That sounds nice," Dovewing said at last. "You know I love you, right Lionblaze?"

"Oh," Lionblaze was completely taken off guard by her sudden words, and he felt all warm and fuzzy inside. "I love you too, Dovewing. Very much."

"I just have one question for you," she said hesitantly. "I know if Ivypool got pregnant I'd be there for her. I'd help with the baby the best I could, because she's my sister and I care for her. Would you do the same for Hollyleaf?"

"Uh," Lionblaze mumbled, thrown off guard again. "Well, sure, you know, the best I could and stuff. I'd try and all. But I'm kind of a kid myself, you know. It would be hard for me. But yes, I would help her."

"Okay," Dovewing said, slightly more cheerfully. "Thanks for being honest. I was just wondering what you thought, because it's kind of a big deal. I was just wondering your opinion."

"Anytime," Lionblaze said kindly. "Glad I could help. Now let's stop talking about babies, okay? We're way too young for them."

"We are," Dovewing murmured.

"Are you gonna come over?" Lionblaze asked.

"I just remembered, I have to help my dad out today with some reorganizing," Dovewing confessed. "But I'll stop by before I start, okay? I have a present for you."

"A present!" Lionblaze exclaimed, excitement washing over him instantly. _Wow, this is turning out to be a pretty okay day! _"What is it?"

"It's a surprise," Dovewing said in a fake mysterious voice. Lionblaze giggled.

"I'll bring it over right now," Dovewing said.

"Okay, see you soon!" Lionblaze said, hanging up the phone.

_I can't wait to see what it is!_

* * *

><p>Lionblaze held the tiny package, and stared at the card taped to the outside. <em>Guess I gotta open the card first, <em>Lionblaze thought to himself. _I don't want to be rude._

"Open it when I'm gone, okay?" Dovewing said, smiling slightly. She leaned up and kissed Lionblaze, wrapping her arms around him.

"I love you," Lionblaze whispered into her hair. Dovewing squeezed him slightly before letting go and walking out the door.

"She's not staying?" Hollyleaf asked, walking into the living room as Dovewing shut the door behind her.

"Yeah, she just got here," Jayfeather said from where he was sitting on the couch.

"She just wanted to give me a present," Lionblaze said happily, looking at the pink and purple tissue paper sticking out of the gift bag. _I hope it's a new video game! _

"Your birthday isn't for another few months," Hollyleaf commented. "I wonder what the occasion is."

"The occasion is simply the fact that my girlfriend is the best," Lionblaze said huffily, reaching into the bag.

"At least read the card first," Jayfeather said. "You can't just open the present without reading the card. It's not right."

"Fine," Lionblaze said, taking his hand out of the bag before he could see what it was. He took the card out of the envelope and read it.

This was the moment where time seemed to stand still.

The words on the card made Lionblaze stop cold.

He read it and reread it. And then he read it again.

_Dear Lionblaze_

_I lied to you; I hope you can forgive me_

_Ivypool never had a pregnancy scare_

_I just had to know what you thought about it_

_We are young_

_We have futures paved by stars_

_But now, the stars are going to look a little different_

_But who knows_

_Maybe they'll shine a little brighter_

_You stole the stars, Lionblaze._

_I love you_

"What's wrong?" Hollyleaf asked in alarm, running over to her brother.

"Lionblaze, what is it?" Jayfeather asked, getting off the couch at once as he saw the look on his brothers face. Lionblaze stood shaking violently, the card trembling in his hands. Hollyleaf snatched it from him and looked over it. At once, her eyes went huge, and she passed it to Jayfeather.

"Why is everyone getting all freaked out," Jayfeather mumbled, taking the note. His scowl turned to a look of pure shock in a matter of seconds.

"What is this," he whispered. "Surely, this can't mean-" his voice was cut off as Lionblaze held up what was in the gift bag.

It was a little blue shirt with the picture of a kitten on it, obviously meant for a newborn baby.

In Lionblazes other hand was a pregnancy stick, with a giant plus on it.

"I'm gonna be a dad," Lionblaze whispered.

THE END

* * *

><p><em>An_

_The end has finally come! I'm feeling a bit strange about it… like I can hardly believe it's actually finished. Bet you all didn't think it would end like that, did you! I'm the master of throwing in unexpected twists. So, the book before this, Lionblaze has a Shadow, was the first fanfiction I ever wrote when I was fifteen years old. And now four years later, I'm just finishing the sequel. Time sure flies… I think I'm just feeling sad that I finished it. Maybe I'm nostalgic. _

_Maybe it's a little of both._

_I wanted to bring up a subject to you readers, about how I have glamourized the use of drugs and heavy drinking in the chapters I write. This is a fictional story, I want you to remember. And Lionblaze, Jayfeather and Hollyleaf are nothing but bad role models. They go hard, without any consequences or bad things happening really ever. _

_Let me tell you first off, that not remembering what you did at a party when you wake up really sucks._

_Like it really, really, freaking sucks._

_I like to write about the parties and the fun that they have. I take a lot of personal experiences I have and put them in there too. But while I write about all the good times, I leave out most of the bad. In real life, it's not the same. I have done terrible things that I have been told about, but never will remember. I even got arrested once. Oops. Not for anything too bad, though. I felt bad about that for months. Seriously, I thought about it every day. Meanwhile, in Lionblazes world, when he got arrested in the last book, he just forgot about it the second he got out. _

_I'm all up for partying and having fun… I just know I have a lot of younger readers, and I just don't want you guys to think its super cool to do what I make Lionblaze and his crew do._

_Go out and have fun, that's what life is all about. Just stay safe!_

_Okay now that that topic is out of the way, I'd like to thank everyone for sticking by this story until the end. Sorry for leaving it for like a year… my motivation just went clean out the window. But it's back! Also, to those of you who follow Apprentice and Pregnant, I'm gonna start the sequel to that soon, so yay!_

_And for those of you who want Lionblaze's adventures to continue, I can happily say that they will._

_The party never dies._

_So keep watch for __**Lionblaze Lost the Lightning**_


End file.
